Ribbons of Blood

Chapter Thirty-six

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, or any of its characters.

AN: Thank you for the reviews, your continued support means so much .3. I'm doing my best to update more often, but I have exams in a month and stressss. But here you go, I managed to get this out of my head :D

Forty years later.

"Tsu-chan! Check out what Izuru bought for me!"

Ketsueki glanced up from her desk. Momo was in the doorway of her small office. She smiled and waved her friend inside. "Let's see?" she asked, setting her pen down.

Momo quickly strode over to her and showed her a new beaded bracelet she was wearing. "Isn't it pretty?" she exclaimed, examining the tiny multi-coloured spheres, twirling them around with a finger. "It's so nice, I can't believe Izuru took time off to go get it just for me."

"You guys are getting closer each year," Ketsueki said with another small smile.

"I know! He's such a lovely guy."

"Momo? Something you're not telling me here?" Ketsueki eyed her suspiciously.

"How many times do I have to tell you-"

"Oh, but of course, it'll always be Captain Aizen for you, won't it?"

Momo jumped at her words and quickly glanced over her shoulder, checking that the door was shut. "I wish you wouldn't do that," she said, cheeks flushed a bright pink now.

"It's what friends are for," Ketsueki replied with a grin. It never failed to amuse her how flustered Momo got at the mention of their Captain, even though this had to be the millionth time she'd teased her.

Momo sighed and let her friend's taunt slide. "You've been cooped up in here for days," she said, changing the subject. She gestured out the window at the blue sky. "It's summer time, and finally! Let's go outside for lunch today, okay?"

Ketsueki shrugged. "Do we have to?"

"We don't have to, but-"

"Then go on without me. Unlike lunch, these papers do have to be finished."

Momo's eyes narrowed, and she leaned over the desk to see what Ketsueki was working on. "Choosing new recruits?"

Ketsueki nodded. "It's exhausting. Each and every one of them would be good. But somehow I've got to narrow the list down to just six students for the Captain."

"He probably shouldn't have given such a tough job to someone so indecisive," Momo chuckled.

"Hey, I can be decisive."

"Then decide now, I won't ask you again: come have lunch with me!"

"Oh fine, fine!" Ketsueki finally admitted defeat and pushed the documents aside. She stood up and stretched her arms over her head. Her limbs felt wobbly and stiff. "Maybe I do need some air," she muttered begrudgingly.

"See? I told you." Momo sniffed and gestured for Ketsueki to lower her arms. "And I think you might need a shower, too."

"Watch yourself, Hinamori," Ketsueki warned, but there was a wide grin on her face as she followed her outside.

It was the beginning of July, and summer was indeed in full swing. The sky was flawlessly blue, and the trees were standing in their full glory in the forests below them. Making their way downstairs, Momo led her to the Division's canteen to grab some food before heading out to the forest's edge. They chose a spot under the sun and sat cross-legged to enjoy their meal.

Ketsueki bit down on her steamed bun and leaned against a tree, looking off into the distance. She and Momo shared a few minutes of relaxed tranquillity between them, allowing Ketsueki to drift off into her own thoughts, which were now much lighter than they'd ever been before. And she couldn't be more thankful of that.

She thought again of the candidates applying for acceptance into the Fifth Division. There had been one of them who reminded her of herself, with the same long black hair draped down her shoulders in the small photograph included in the file. She let herself think back to her own Spirit Academy days again. She had been one of the better students, though never in the top, which had always nagged her a little, and it still did, being the perfectionist that she was. But she was doing well for herself these days. She knew she shouldn't be complaining. After all, becoming the third-seat officer of her Division wasn't a small feat.

Right?

"Feeling better?" Momo said.

Ketsueki blinked and glanced around. "You okay?" Momo asked when she didn't respond.

Finally, Ketsueki acknowledged her question with a small nod and a smile. "Yeah, I guess so. Thanks."

She turned away and stared up at the thin clouds again. She fumbled with the paper boxes in her lap, spacing off again. Truth be told, the reason she'd hesitated was because she wasn't sure what Momo was asking about: being in the great outdoors, or Ketsueki living a new and surprisingly lonely life, and how she honestly felt about it. She didn't want to find out the answer to the latter. She had decided not to dwell on it a long, long time ago. And, for once, she was satisfied with not knowing.

Captain Aizen's blade struck Ketsueki's suddenly and without warning. Ketsueki gasped at the power behind the attack as she parried against it. It made her fingers go numb as they gripped the hilt of her zanpakuto tightly.

Pushing back against Aizen's strength, she leaped away from him and panted, her abdomen and shoulders bloody from where he had sliced her open. But her arms were undamaged, as they were wrapped up in the silky red ribbons that Injuken had given her all those decades ago. They wound all the way up from her fingers to her upper arms, allowing an opponent's blows to be deflected, though they did leave horrible bruises afterwards.

But Aizen was starting to use more of his spiritual energy against her. Even though this meant that Aizen trusted her to cope with his abilities, Ketsueki knew that his energy would soon be enough to disintegrate the protective ribbons up along her arms, exposing her flesh beneath. She needed to find a way to strengthen the ribbons. Or to stop her arms from being so vulnerable, which would mean she'd have to move more swiftly and predict Aizen's movements.

Ketsueki let out a cry of determination as she rushed at her Captain again, spinning in the air. Injuken's first stage was released, and the red ribbon that had replaced the sword's blade swung around her in a dangerous arc. She whipped it sharply at Aizen as she descended on him.

Aizen smiled just as the ribbon cut through his robe and left a splatter of blood there. But then he manoeuvred quickly and efficiently between the strips of ribbons billowing around him, and all of a sudden he was standing right in front of Ketsueki.

"Wh-what-" Ketsueki didn't even have time to react as Aizen left another deep gash through her stomach with his sword. But even through the pain, Ketsueki jerkily snapped the ribbon downwards, into Aizen's shoulder as he stood there. She knew she shouldn't have, but she felt a flash of triumph at the blood that spilled from the wound.

"You're going to have to try much harder than that, Ketsueki," Aizen said calmly, before kicking her in the stomach, directly over the wound he'd just inflicted. The force of the impact sent her tumbling down onto the ground, shuddering at the fresh pain from her stomach.

Breathe. Shallow breaths. Quickly. Now.

Ketsueki got back onto her feet, one hand pressed tightly against her bleeding stomach, the other wielding the hilt of the ribbon as it drifted menacingly in the air.

"Bankai!" she cried. An explosion of red spiritual energy. An explosion she had been learning to control for so long.

Aizen smiled again. He was impressed by her perseverance. But she wasn't there yet. Hardly.

"Good," he said, and went ahead to take her down.

The summer heat seemed to help guide the days along. Soon it was mid-July, and the glow of the sun was relentless from morning to evening. It kept a lot of the shinigami indoors, sheltered by the buildings. Windows were opened wide and a surprisingly large number of fans were passed around like water or some other sparse commodity. The heat made everyone ten times as lazy as they were before. But Ketsueki was merciless. She was as strict as ever when it came to keeping the many paths of the Seireitei clean.

She was delivering a report to the Eighth Division one day when she spotted a cluster of non-officers under her own command. She knew that they were on cleaning duty, but instead of doing their jobs, they were sitting with their backs against the white walls, attempting to hide under the tiled roofs above them. She felt a vein pulse angrily. To think that an officer like herself had to move around and do all the work while those below her were slacking, that really bugged her. The stifling temperature certainly didn't help her contain her irritation.

"Hey!" she snapped at them. "What d'you think you're doing?"

"S-sorry, Officer Donato!" one of the younger non-officers cried, immediately getting to his feet and desperately sweeping the footpath.

An older shinigami, however, wasn't as quick to obey. "It's really hot," he complained, and two of his companions muttered their agreement. "Can't you cut us a break, ma'am?"

Although they weren't hostile at all and were merely asking for some rest, Ketsueki felt herself stiffen at the disobedience. "I know it's hot," she said impatiently, "but we've all got a job to do, right? So would you please get cleaning? Also, I'm aware that you're actually being punished, aren't you? I don't want to punish you further for not doing the task at hand."

The non-officers continued to grumble, but they soon got off the floor and started to sweep instead. Ketsueki watched them for a second, then nodded her approval.

"Thank you," she said before turning away. She started back down the path, heading toward the Eight Division again. She didn't get very far, though, for she caught a snippet of the murmured conversation behind her

"…gotta be the meanest officer this Division's ever seen."

"What d'you expect? She used to be one of Zaraki's. You know what they're like."

"Yeah, bunch of crazy, power-hungry, brainless-"

"And what are you implying, exactly?" Ketsueki found herself shouting, turning back around and stalking toward the non-officers, who jumped at her intrusion. "Are you saying I'm a brainless idiot?!"

"M-ma'am?" The non-officers froze, startled that she had heard.

"Well? Explain yourselves, 'cus it sure as hell sounded like that from over here!"

"I'm just s-saying…it's just, er, we know you transferred…and the Eleventh Division-"

"What about my Division, eh?"

Ketsueki whipped around at the voice. Her green eyes landed on a familiar face, and she scowled.

"O-Officer Madarame, sir!" The non-officers all hastened to bow. Their faces went red at being caught by him. Obviously Ikkaku's ominous presence was much more effective than Ketsueki's. And that pissed her off. That, and the fact that he still had the nerve to show up around her.

She remembered their first encounter after she'd left the Eleventh Division. He had called her a spineless coward, disloyal to her Captain and too weak to control her zanpakuto. Other words like rude and ungrateful and ignorant had also flown from his lips. Ever since then, she'd stayed away from him, as well as any other members of his Division. She couldn't help feeling heavy distaste whenever she ran into them. They were part of a past that she had learned to leave behind.

"What are you doing here, Madarame?" she asked she stared at him. She couldn't remember when she'd started calling him by his last name.

"You're not the only one who's got business with Captain Kyoraku," he snapped back.

She huffed in frustration. "Well, don't get in my way, okay?" She turned on her heel and continued her way down the path, guided between the two white walls on either side of her.

"Tsu-chan, aren't you gonna say hello to me too?"

That voice. Ketsueki sighed and turned around for what felt like the millionth time. She hadn't spotted Yachiru clinging onto Ikkaku's back, but there she was, as young and sweet as ever. For her, Ketsueki would always feel something akin to guilt, maybe because seeing her would always remind her of him. She waved. "Hey Yachiru," she said, a wan smile appearing on her face.

"How're you doing?" Yachiru yelped from Ikkaku's shoulder.

"Good, and you?"

"Good! Are you visiting old man Shunsui now?"

"Sort of."

"Why don't you ever visit us? I keep telling you to! It's been aaaaages. Don't you miss us?"

Ikkaku was staring at her while Yachiru asked her these burning questions. It was making her uncomfortable. Ketsueki looked away.

"I've been really busy," she said, shrugging. "I'm sorry, Yachiru. I live really far away and I don't work with you guys any more. That's all."

"Tsu-chan, you don't hate us, do you?"

Ketsueki wasn't sure how to answer, not while Ikkaku was looking at her like that, so she simply pretended not to hear and left them in her wake.

After delivering her report, Ketsueki headed straight for her office to clear up for the day. She was tired from the heat and her exchange with her old colleagues.

However, when she reached her office, Momo was standing there with a worried expression on her pale face.

"What's wrong?" Ketsueki asked immediately.

"Renji was here." She looked at her sadly. "He had…he had bad news."

Ketsueki's stomach no longer did flips at the mention of his name, but she did feel that familiar, dull ache. "What happened?" she asked again.

"D'you remember how he was sent down there to arrest Rukia?"

Ketsueki nodded. She knew, of course she did. Her brain had pushed it away, though, because she hadn't wanted to think about it. She didn't want to know how Renji was feeling about Rukia's crime. "Yeah, I remember."

"Well…Rukia made a big mistake. And Central Forty-six just made their decision." Momo sighed shakily. "Renji just told me about it."

Ketsueki waited.

"Tsu-chan…they're gonna execute her. Rukia's going to die."

Her mind froze. All thoughts were locked up together, twisting and becoming entangled. "When?" was all she could muster.

"Twenty-five days from now."

They stood together in silence, not knowing how to go on with what they had to do when Rukia only had a few weeks left to live.

"She doesn't deserve that," Ketsueki managed finally. "Whatever the hell she did in the Living World, she doesn't deserve to be killed."

"I know," Momo murmured. "Poor Rukia. And poor Renji."

Ketsueki nodded dimly. "Yeah…"

"We should…we should go visit Rukia, shouldn't we?"

"I dunno," Ketsueki muttered, rubbing her wrist. "Is that a good idea?"

"Then we should at least go and find Renji. He'll need someone to talk to." A pause. "I think you should go."

"What? Why?" Ketsueki's eyes flashed in alarm.

"Because you understand him. And he needs a friend."

Shaking her head vigorously, Ketsueki walked away from Momo. "What the hell, Momo? I'm not his friend. I don't want to get involved in this."

"But-"

"But nothing! It's not my place to go and comfort him."

"Tsu-chan, don't say that."

"It's true. I wouldn't have anything good to say."

"You should try."

"Momo, stop it," Ketsueki growled in frustration. "Don't you get it? He wouldn't want to see me. Y'know that nickname people kept calling me? I was 'the other Rukia', that other girl that Renji fucked up with." She crossed her arms. "Seeing him would only cause him more stress."

Clearly, Ketsueki could not be moved on the subject. She simply continued to glare at one of her only true friends.

"You go find Renji or Rukia if you want to," she told her firmly. "But I'm not going."

AN: There you have it! She's in the Fifth now :O Please review!