The Story of Bleach told through the eyes of one Hara Setsuna, Captain of the 14th. As a Captain do not expect her to be all sunshine and roses. Eventual Byakuya/OC although not for a long time, the only other paring is OC/OC. All Manga Spoilers are Now Live.

[] = denotes flashback*

*Flashbacks not in Order

A/N: I think the greatest gift Kubo could have given me for this story is the fact that so much of this fight with Byakuya is rather glossed over, so I was given a LOT of creative freedom when it came to his three v one fight.

Not Mine

Obscured Edge

Setsuna watched as Miya moved two large slabs over the small outcropping he had created and crouched down to get a better view of Gaki who was curled up under the rubble. He had spent a good five minutes clearing out a hiding spot for the girl. It was close enough to the battlefront so that he could keep an eye on her but far enough away that no one would see him hiding her or sense that she was there. Her small reiatsu blending in with that of the reiatsu in the world around them.

It was impressive how quickly he had come to love this child Setsuna thought - although perhaps not as strange as she wanted to think. Miya had just lost Yori so of course he was going to want to protect the next thing that crossed his path. Yet Setsuna was somehow sure that this wasn't just about replacing Yori either. From where he sat crouched Setsuna could tell that he had real feelings for this child that went beyond Gaki being an emotional crutch for him to learn on, "You have to stay here and hide okay?"

"You're not going to leave me?" Gaki's worried tone floated up from where she was hidden from view.

"Just for a little bit. Momma has to go protect a good friend of Hara Taichou. Then she'll be back."

That was also something new. Never in her many many decades of life had Miya ever taken to the female pronoun. Sure he didn't mind when other people called him she, but he had never referred to himself as a woman or used female pronouns to define himself. But with Gaki he didn't seem to mind. It was a new side of the man she was seeing, and that new side was good. But also a bit sad. Something inside of Miya had shifted after Yori's death, and Setsuna was curious to see what else had changed, "You ready to go Mom?" she called out to him.

"Ready as ever Hara Taichou." he stood up and dusted off his clothing, "Let's dazzle the Quincy with our beauty."

"Don't be Melodramatic." she chided him.

A yell was heard from a little ways off and the two of them used great haste to go and rejoin the others who had left not but a moment ago. Another scream, this time angry pierced the sound of battle and they caught up with the group just in time to see Renji dash in heroically to save Ichigo from his own stupidity. You could do all that you could to help a man grow up but you could never change their base instinct, and Ichigo's instinct would always be to take everyone's lives on his shoulders and protect people. The last bit of their argument reached her ears as she slotted herself next to Byakuya, "My head!" Ichigo complained - Renji must of hit him.

"Don't complain, in the end it didn't hit you." Renji pointed his sword at Ichigo, "Go. I won't let them pass. I don't know the details but you have a connection with the Quincy boss right? I'll leave him to you. It's your job."

Ichigo seemed to consider arguing this but Setsuna knew that he knew that Renji was correct. Up above in the Royal Realm they had discussed who would deal with who when it came down to it and Ichigo had let them know in not so many words that he was itching to fight the leader of the Quincy. He hadn't said why but Setsuna had felt that it was somewhat personal in nature and so no one had pried any further. To find him here fighting a horde of Quincy was surprising and she could tell by the curious look on her husband's and Rukia's face that they felt the same. Finally Ichigo seemed to make up his mind and took off in an attempt to escape the Quincy he was fighting. The hoard attempted to follow him but they couldn't allow it, as Ichigo passed by them they all quickly moved in front of the following Quincy almost like a shield, "I told you," Renji said with a little more gusto than before, "We won't let you pass."

There was a stare down for a moment as the Quincy with a mohawk counted their numbers, "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Eight people. Huh, just enough to fight one on one. How many special war potentials are among them?" He seemed to be talking to the elderly Quincy behind him.

"Zero." the older Quincy answered

That inflamed the Quincy into excitement, "What! I have no business with them then. Out of the way!"

But if he expected it to be easy he was going to be sorely disappointed. Ikkaku countered his attempt to go after Ichigo by throwing a rather large boulder on top of him and Rukia stopped his attempted retaliation by Quincy bow using her mastery of cold and ice, freezing the bow before he could get a single shot off. Rikku stepped down to where he was standing, "Didn't you hear? We said that we won't let you pass." she said, her voice showing just how bored she was with the current situation.

However where she was cool and collected Ikkaku had been whipped up into a frenzy as was the signature style of many of those from eleventh division - to Setsuna's chagrin, "If you want us to go away, then ya better just die right now."

Yumichika picked his ear and sighed, which Setsuna found disgusting but didn't comment on, "You're speaking nonsense Ikkaku, not sure whether you realize that though."

Just watching these men made Setsuna even more sure that she would never understand Eleventh Division. Ikkaku was as loud and boisterous as his Captain and while she like Yumichika better - after all he reminded her in some ways of Miya, something about him never would sit quite right with her. And it wasn't the way he dressed or even the way he talked, she dealt with that enough when it came to Miya, but something about him felt very wolf in sheep's clothing to her. And that was enough to be unnerving.

One of the smaller females seemed frustrated by the exchange in front of her, "Hey, I'm not going to waste time here and let Ichigo escape. We should beat them right away with our Vollständig."

The mohawked man looked down at her, "Huh, Of course!"

As the Quincy group charged at them a huge shock of energy rippled forward and exploded outwards pushing them all in separate directions. As Setsuna flew backwards and felt her body smack into the back of a rock face her eyes widened at a boulder that was racing towards her. She wouldn't have time to stop it, she realized bracing herself for impact. However the thud never came and instead a ball of red light incinerated the large rock before it could hit her, "You okay Taichou?" came Miya's voice.

"Fine."

How embarrassed she felt that Miya had to rescue her. Although from the looks of things whatever the shock-wave had been it hadn't flung him as hard as it had her. One of the perks of being larger she assumed. Byakuya flash stepped over to where she was recovering and looked out over the boulder field in front of them. They were not alone here. Three Quincy stood on large debris staring down at them. Two of them, a younger girl and an older man had wings on their backs made of reishi - but the other one seemingly did not. His most distinguishing feature was that his hair stood up in three places, almost like half a star. Standing up she stared up at them and back at Miya, "If you wish to go check on Gaki -" she was offering him the chance to leave, knowing that fighting a lettered Quincy would be unlike anything he had faced before.

He stared at her his eyes flaring at her words and she could tell that she had upset him, "I don't need a babysitter Taichou. I will defeat him on my own." he pointed to the one with star shaped hair.

"Big words!" the girl taunted down at them, "How are you going to counter us? With that energy blocking power you have?"

"Don't think so lowly of my Taichou that she'd need that to defeat you!" Miya yelled upwards at her.

"It won't work anyway! We know how to counter it now, it honestly wasn't that hard once we stole a bit of her reishi." the female said.

Ah so they had figured it out then. The only energy source that her shikai didn't work on was her own - it was a bit of a failsafe, in that regard. Which meant that the battle before, with the Quincy that had stolen her energy had been for this sole purpose. They must have been infused with her reishi at some point, just in case they fought her. How troublesome. Using her shikai to get to Byakuya in time to save him had allowed this outcome but she did not regret it. Her husband's life had been more important to her then, and was more important to her still. Not the best opinion to have in the middle of a war perhaps - but one she thought never the less.

"I'm sick of them." Setsuna said, ignoring the posturing going on in front of her, "Shall we?"

"You're willing to do that?" Byakuya asked her.

"Just as we practiced, I think." she told him.

An arrow whizzed by her face and she jumped sideways and closer to Byakuya to avoid it. Looking up she could see the man with the star shaped hair had drawn his Quincy bow seemingly bored of their conversation. Next to her Miya glared up at him and then disappeared only to appear again next to the man who had attacked her. A second later and the two were engaged in combat. As Miya and Star Quincy begun to fight the two winged Quincy made their move. As they did Setsuna took in a deep breath, this whole fight now hinged on her durability - and she would endure, "Bankai, Fumetsu no Ken."

For quick second she had to get used to the feeling of the bells on her back appearing so quickly - but it was only a second. In that space of time she also had just a moment to process Byakuya's words, "Chire, Senbonzakura."

A mass of swarming petals moved towards her person and around her. Byakuya's control was immaculate - the petals didn't touch her at all. But the coverage that they provided kept her almost invisible to any that attempted to see her. The tactic, which they had spent ages working on seemed to stop the two Quincy in their tracks as the swarm of petals seemed to grow and circle around them. Now was the time, their joined attack would be two fold.

[Tea poured and the cup warming her hands Setsuna stared at Byakuya across from her and debated her position. Their meetings had been scarce of late - her lieutenant job making her busier than normal compounded with the fact that they still had to sneak their conversations, meant that she might not get another chance to tell him. However if she told him then someone would know and her secret would be harder to keep. Still it wouldn't hurt to have someone on her side in this, at least for as long as she had to keep the secret. She took a sip and made up her mind, "I have Bankai."

That seemed to impress Byakuya enough that he put his tea cup down and concentrated heavily on her face. The scrutiny wasn't what got to her, it was how unreadable his eyes were in that moment. They betrayed nothing and Setsuna wondered if she had made a mistake. It was well known that those with Bankai were fast tracked to Captain promotions once there were open positions, and that thought terrified her. If anyone found out she might have to consider leaving Takahashi at some point, and that thought was currently unacceptable to her, "Congratulations." he finally said.

"You won't tell anyone?" she asked afraid of the answer.

"Do you wish me to? You could be well on your way to promotion if I did." he said these words like they were a good thing, and to him she knew they were.

"Not yet. I don't think" she told him.

For a split second she thought he would be disappointed, but he nodded instead and a huge wave of relief swept through her. He obviously still thought it would be a good thing to tell everyone but her secret was safe with him for the time being. They shared many secrets together and this one would be no different, "You should consider letting people know." he said.

This she had expected of him. He would keep her secret but he would always interject his own wisdom into the situation, after all they could never help but offer their own opinions when talking to the other. It was a problem with no remedy, they both cared too much about the other to just let things pass without comment. But she could hear something else under his words that he wasn't telling her, "What are you so worried about?"

"It won't be this year but," he took a sip of his tea to get ready to tell her whatever he was about to say, "My family has begun whispering about passing the title of Taichou onto me. Our secret meetings are already strained, I worry what my new position will bring to the table regarding our friendship."

Setsuna tried to control her reaction to that news. Of course she had known for some time that eventually Byakuya would have to take up the mantle of Captain, and it was no surprise that it would be happening soon. They were not children anymore, they had not been children for sometime so now that Byakuya was grown of course they would be considering him. His grandfather was elderly after all, and Byakuya's youth was more suited to battle, "Ah."

"Indeed."

"Well, I've found that life has always created ways to bring us together. And," she paused to look at him warmly, "Congratulations, Kuchiki Taichou ."

His warm laughter filled the room. And it did her heart good to hear it. The last time they had met he had told her about Hisana's illness, and he had been worried. Both of them knew that she most likely did not have much more time, but still they tried to carry on as normal. Hearing him laugh made her think that things could be normal if just for a few more years.

They weren't.]

Instead of waiting for Byakuya to create an opening in his shikai Setsuna burst through it, hardly wincing as it cut small lesions on her body. The time it would take Byakuya to open a path for her would ruin the whole reason for this technique. While yes the blossoms hid her to some degree the reiryoku they let off allowed for one other advantage. Because of her training in the Royal Realm she could now move the reishi in her body in around in such a way that the energy it produced mimicked the reiryoku that Byakuya's shikai let off. Masking her body perfectly behind the wall of pink.

The Quincy she attacked never saw her coming, and in the time that they started to ready their bows she had already cut a shallow streak into their arms. A deeper cut would take more power, power she could not reproduce at such a quick speed. But this battle wasn't about power - it was about quick efficient cuts that would eventually get the job done. And get it done they would. The girl Quincy turned and attempted to aim at her but by then it was too late. Byakuya's shikai swallowed her up once more and the attack glanced harmlessly over the wall of Byakuya's shikai. She growled in frustration, "Stop playing the cowards game!"

"Let us make them stop this game." the man next to her suggested.

In a moment he disappeared from Setsuna's sight and she realized that he was going after Byakuya. A few plans of attack whipped through her mind and it only took her a hair's breadth to decided which one to use. Fortunately she and Byakuya were in sync. She dashed forward out of his shikai as he pulled it towards himself. When he did this three things happened in rapid succession: Setsuna cut a second shallow cut alongside the female Quincy's arm again, Byakuya repelled the older male Quincy away from him cutting into his body with ease, and then having made the older Quincy retreat a safe distance away - his shikai returned to the round shape of before, trapping the Quincy in its circle. Finally safely away from the female Quincy, Setsuna was engulfed once more. On the occasion of this battle, and this battle only Setsuna was glad she was tiny. The female let out another growl, "You're all so frustrating I wish you would just DIE!"

Popping out to attack once more Setsuna answered her, "We wish the same." and readied her strike, which never landed.

Instead Setsuna stopped mid-swing when she felt it. At first she hadn't wanted to believe what she had felt but there was no doubt in her mind who that energy signal belonged too. A second later a little ways away Miya looked up his eyes wide - so he had felt it too then. The Quincy he was fighting charged him and he easily dodged the attack. His eyes sought out Setsuna's and found them, for a moment their eyes held and then Miya spoke, "Taichou I -"

"Defeat your foe. Then yes, you may go."

The male Quincy used her hesitation in attacking them to get off a shot but she moved fast enough to avoid it. The attack glanced off her shoulder, burning her slightly but hardly causing any damage at all, "Thank you." he seemed relieved to hear this and readied his sword for shikai.

Quickly, before he could release Setsuna flash stepped over to where Byakuya was standing, taking the brunt of the energy that made up senbonzakura's petals to cross the barrier his shikai had set up between them. He seemed surprised to see her standing so close to him, as her style of combat was better served in closer combat and not far away, like he was now. However he didn't know how to counter what was about to come as she did. Her hands moved swiftly as she set about wordlessly casting a rudimentary kido barrier around them, "What are you -"

A moment after the barrier went up she heard Miya speak, "Nejiru, Tessen."

Soon after he had summoned his shikai's power a large gust of wind covered the whole arena, save the box that she and Byakuya were standing in. All three Quincy had not been expecting the sudden attack and all three of them stopped in their tracks, and then like stones seemed to drop from the sky unable to maintain their balance. The effect of his sword would not last long - as soon as the wind settled they would ever so slowly start to recover - but it was enough time for him to at least dispatch one of them. Miya snapped his fan shut and with great speed moved over to where the star haired Quincy was falling. His sword moved quickly, cutting into the man and making sure that the Quincy would take quite some time to recover from his wounds. As the wind finally let up Setsuna dropped the barrier and rushed forward, back through Byakuya's petals - taking note of Miya rushing off in the direction that the energy signal had come from.

When she arrived on the other side of the wall she quickly moved to the ground where the two Quincy were wiping what looked to be sickness from their mouths. Both of them seemed to be getting their baring back but like her lieutenant before her Setsuna would not allow them that courtesy, "I feel like I just went through five different stages of sickness." the male muttered.

"We must - " the girl tried to say.

But they were too late. Setsuna moved and a pink blur joined her. In what was seemed like a blink of time both she and Byakuya's shikai cut into and finished the two Quincy leaving them bleeding out on the rubble.

A/N: I spent a lot of time thinking over the fighting tech that both Byakuya and Setsuna used but eventually decided that I liked the idea too much to nix it. Lots of craziness next chapter.