WHEN THE SNOW FALLS
by Yih

Chapter Twenty
Leading the Way

Despite her disappointed in not becoming a seated officer – mainly because she wanted Byakuya to be proud of her – Rukia was satisfied that she was becoming a real member of Squad 13. She surveyed the ten shinigami that were under her command for their first group mission, which coincidentally was also her first mission as a leader as well. She was confident that she would be able to easily protect the shinigami that would look to her if things got out of hand.

"Kuchiki-san," a young male shinigami began, "everyone is accounted for and ready."

"Then let's set off then," Rukia said, giving them the signal to follow her as they headed off on their mission.

She kept them on a steady, fast pace, but nowhere near as quick as the shunpo she had grown accustomed to using. It seemed to take forever to get to the location where some low level Hollows had been spotted. Her duty as their group leader was to stay back and survey them as they worked as a group to fight the Hollows. She would only interfere if they were in danger.

Rukia held up her hand when she felt the low reiatsu of several Hollows, a bit more than she would have liked. She waited until everyone behind her came to a stop. She looked around the forest at all directions before setting off in the one where she felt the least powerful and lowest number of Hollows. She wanted to start them off easy, to build their confidence and to make them finally feel like real shinigamis.

-

Byakuya was slightly nervous as he sat in his office, knowing that Rukia was commanding her first mission as a group leader. He thought it rather preposterous that she was a leader when she wasn't even a seated officer, but he couldn't protest this responsibility since it was quite clear that Rukia was strong enough to protect newly minted shinigamis on their first mission.

Yamamoto had reluctantly agreed with him that to allow Rukia to become a seated officer was dangerous, especially since she had not mastered her shikai yet. Byakuya wasn't sure if he would be able to block Rukia from a seated position if she fully mastered her shikai and began in earnest learning bankai. If she did that, she would be at a fukutaichou's level, much less a 3rd seat's. Luckily, he thought, there was no free fukutaichou position available.

Byakuya admitted he was worried, but it was a mission for new recruits and it was highly unlikely that Rukia would even have to interfere to come to their defense. There was a little doubt in the back of his mind, especially when he thought about her first solo mission. That was just a highly unusual, unpredictable situation where the Hollow had been strong and intelligent enough to hide his reiatsu.

"Kuchiki-taichou," Kinomoto said as she knocked on the door, "there is a messenger for you."

"Let him in," he said, wondering what this was about.

It was probably another paperwork assignment for him from Yamamoto for rejecting Jushiro's recommendation for Rukia to be promoted to the 3rd seat of Squad 13. Yamamoto could be quite wily and cunning, despite the fact that he never looked anything other than a calm and wise old man. Byakuya was going to pay for asking a favor from the Sou-taichou, but it was for the best.

Maybe, just maybe, when Rukia truly mastered her shikai and was working hard on her bankai – maybe then he could do as Jushiro had advised… stop holding her back.

"Kuchiki-sama?" the messenger said as he crouched on his hand and knees in front of the Head of the Kuchiki family. "Takahiro-sama has requested your presence at an important Elder meeting later on this evening after dinner if you will spare the time. I am to await your answer."

Byakuya had been hoping to spend the evening with Rukia, since she had been rather busy preparing for her first group mission that most of the little time spent together had been helping her practice her shikai. Life, he thought, was never going to slow down. They would just have to make time for each other.

And they would, he promised himself, after Rukia came back tonight and after this Elder meeting…

"I will be there," Byakuya said.

-

"Dance, Sode no Shirayuki!" Rukia cried as she waved at the shinigamis under her to retreat behind her. She slashed the area with her sword and whispered, "Some no mai, tsukishiro!"

The Hollows that had been neatly surrounded by the formation she had quickly thought of had worked perfectly for her zanpakuto. It couldn't have gone better than this, she thought as she watched the five Hollows freeze to their foray into a peaceful death that would save them from being monsters anymore. She smiled at them encouragingly.

"Good job," she said.

"Thanks," a couple of them said.

"That was awesome!" one of the others said. "I didn't know your zanpakuto, Kuchiki-san, was an ice-type like Hitsugaya-taichou's!"

"How did you not know?" another one retorted. "Didn't you know that Kuchiki-san's zanpakuto is said to be the most beautiful and pure ice-type zanpakuto?"

Rukia blushed and turned away from her subordinates, thinking about when she had first heard it called that a few months ago when she had been practicing in what she thought was isolation. It seemed quite a few people had heard of her zanpakuto even though she wasn't a seated officer. Her zanpakuto was lovely she had to admit as it reverted back to its plainer form before she resheathed it.

"Let's head back!" Rukia shouted, gesturing at them to start making their way to Squad 13.

For their first group mission, it had been a lot tougher than Rukia remembered her first mission being. She remembered Ukitake had told her about how he was researching the surge of Menos Grande. She ought to tell him that it wasn't just Menos Grande, it was the smaller, weaker Hollows as well. It seemed everything was changing all of a sudden and it was strange.

Something was going on with the Hollows, but what exactly?

-

A/N: I hope the brief glance of Byakuya was enough to sate your appetite until the next chapters ^_^! I hope you're still enjoying the story as much as you always have. The action will be picking up shortly. There's going to be some changes in the timeline and I hope you like what I'm going to do with it!

Anyway, I'm going away on vacation this afternoon and I probably won't be able to write anymore until I come back (if I do, then of course you'll see another chapter!). Please review, it's food for the muse! Happy early Christmas!

Released: 12/24/08