Chapter 35

A Strange Feeling

The first thing Karin noticed after waking up was a familiar glowing green light. Her vision was still blurry and she blinked and tried to focus.

"Karin-san!" a familiar voice said from above her.

"Hanatarō?" she said hoarsly.

"You're awake!" Hanatarō said. She could see him clearly now. It was his hands that emitted the glowing light.

She remembered what had happened. "Are you okay?" she asked and sat up.

"Yes, I'm fine," he replied. "I am more worried about you." He frowned. "Are you sure you should be sitting up?"

Karin didn't answer his question. Instead she asked: "How long was I out? What happened to Kenpachi?"

"Only a couple of minutes I think," he said. "As for what happened to Kenpachi, I am not sure. He was gone when I got here."

Karin looked up. "I see."

The sky was blue. The sun was still high up in the sky. And more importantly, there were still three days until the execution.

She looked down her body. Her Shihakushō was still soaked with blood, but the injuries were gone.

She slowly stood up, much to Hanatarō's displease. "Karin-san! You shouldn't get up! Please, sit down!" he insisted.

"I feel fine," she said. And she really did. Her body was as good as new. She felt like she could run a marathon.

"I'm going to the Senzaikyū," she continued determined. "This time, I'm definitely going to save Momo!"

Rukia was walking restlessly around in the 13th Division's barracks. She had been having this strange feeling. She felt like something was wrong.

Outside, the 13th Division along some members of the 12th were working on figuring out more about the Ryoka and how she had gotten here. Rukia herself was patrolling the barracks.

She remembered how the Ryoka had fallen down from the roof. Kurosaki Karin, she had said her name was. In that moment, Rukia hadn't suspected a thing. Karin had seemed like a normal Shinigami to her. She had been so nice. It was hard to believe that she was a human from the World of the Living that had broken into Seireitei.

A lot of things had happened. Not long ago, Matsumoto-taichō and Hitsugaya-fukutaichō had fought against each other. Rukia had heard that it had been a tough fight, and that both of them had lost consciousness.

The fight between the captain and lieutenant of the 10th Division had been a shock to her. Something like that had never happened before. At least not during Rukia's time as a Shinigami. To think that something like that could happen was hard to believe.

And then there was the incident with Hisagi-fukutaichō. That had been a shock to the entire Seireitei. No one had expected the Ryoka to be that powerful. To think that Karin was above lieutenant's level, maybe even on a captain's level…

Rukia expected that there had been another fight just now. Some time ago, an enormous amount of spiritual energy had come from the centre of Seireitei. One of the Reiatsu was unmistakably Zaraki-taichō's, but the other one she didn't recognize. Perhaps it was Karin's?

And of course, not to mention this whole situation. A captain had been killed. And not just any captain. Aizen-taichō. The nicest and most kind-hearted of all the captains. Why would anyone have wanted to kill such a nice person?

The fact that it had been Hinamori-fukutaichō who killed him was even more shockingly. Rukia had always liked Hinamori. She could never have even imagined that she could have been able to do something like that.

Rukia sighed. This had to be the 30th time she passed the research area. She had grown tired of patrolling a long time ago. It was boring. Nothing happened here anyway. She knew that they were looking for the Ryoka, but it was obvious that she was no longer in the 13th Division's area.

She was about to let out another sigh when something caught her attention. It was the unmistakable red colour of the 6th Division Lieutenant's hair, Abarai Renji.

"Renji!" Rukia said surprised. "What are you doing here?"

The red-head stopped in front of her. "Haven't you heard?" he asked.

"Heard about what?" she said confused.

"About Matsumoto-taichō," he said. "She's regained consciousness."

"Really?"

"Yeah, but this is about what she said when she woke up," Renji explained. Rukia didn't say anything, but waited for him to continue.

She still thought it was strange. She and Renji had begun to talk to each other again not long ago and it still felt weird. After the adoption, she and Renji had lost contact. They didn't speak to each other and did barely look at each other when they met.

Around two months ago, however, Renji had been promoted to lieutenant of the 6th Division, the division whom her brother was captain of. They had been forced to spend more time together. In the beginning, it had been awkward, but after a while, they had re-established a relationship.

Sometimes, she could forget about all the decades they spent as strangers and it was like it never happened. Other time, though, he felt even more distant to her than when they hadn't talk at all.

"She told about what happened before the fight," Renji continued. "She met the Ryoka!"

"Really? What happened?"

"Well, you see, apparently Hitsugaya-fukutaichō and the Ryoka met in the world of the living. Kurosaki was a human turned Shinigami by none other than Hitsugaya himself," Renji explained.

"No, it can't be," Rukia said wide-eyed. "Hitsugaya-fukutaichō did that?"

"Apparently, he did," he said before continuing. "What's more is that the real reason why Kurosaki came here in the first place was to save Hitsugaya from execution. She realised later, of course, that is wasn't his execution at all. After meeting Hitsugaya she decided to save Hinamori instead. Something about repaying her debt. She escaped with Hitsugaya's help."

Rukia was speechless. "I- I can't believe this," she stuttered after a while.

"Yeah, I know," Renji said. He hesitated before he continued: "But Rukia..."

She looked up. "What is it, Renji?"

"Don't you feel it as well?" he asked her. "Like… something's not right?"

Rukia nodded. "You too?"

"Yeah. I know Hinamori. We were friends at the Academy, and I know that she is not someone that could have done anything like this," he said.

"And even if she could, a captain would never have let himself go down like that. Aizen-taichō is a lot stronger than Hinamori. He shouldn't have died either way," Rukia continued.

"Exactly."

"But why are you telling me all of this?" she asked. "I'm not even a seated officer. Isn't this classified or something?"

"Well, I thought maybe you could talk to your brother, or something. He's the one in charge of Hinamori, after all," he said. "Make them redo the investigation. When they first accused Hinamori of being Aizen-taichō's killer, they barely did any investigation at all because they didn't consider other possibilities. Maybe Hinamori wasn't the one who killed him. Maybe she was set up."

Rukia nodded. "I understand. But why don't you talk to nii-sama yourself? You are his lieutenant after all."

"Yes, but I've only been so for a few months," Renji said uncomfortable. "I think you'll have a better chance of getting to him."

"I don't think so," Rukia mumbled. Out loud she said: "I'll do it. But I can't promise anything. He probably won't listen to me anyway."

Renji nodded, and she set off.

She met her brother right outside the 6th Division's barracks. He looked like he was going somewhere.

"Nii-sama!" Rukia shouted. Her brother turned around and Rukia stopped in front of him. She bowed respectfully before looking up at him again. "Can't we speak?"

Her brother nodded, still without looking at her.

Rukia took a deep breath before saying: "Nii-sama, are you sure this is the right thing to do?"

Her brother narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean?" he said slowly.

Rukia bit her lip. Normally, she would never do something like this. She rarely spoke to her brother, and if they spoke, it was usually he who requested to speak to her. To confront him like this in front of the 6th Division's barracks was very unlike her.

"I feel like there is something wrong," she started. "Renj- Abarai-fukutaichō feel it as well. There is something about this whole situation that doesn't make sense."

"How come?" her brother said. His voice was monotone, but Rukia knew that he was deeply displeased about this. She felt the regret growing inside of her.

Rukia repeated what she and Renji had discussed. She was feeling very uncomfortable. Even though they were legally siblings, she didn't feel like this ice cold figure in front of her was her brother at all. She barely even knew him.

"This is nonsense," her brother said when she finished. His voice was as calm as ever, but Rukia knew he was boiling with anger. What she had done was utterly disrespectful. To speak so freely in front of the head of the Kuchiki clan was unacceptable. She was a disappointment to her brother and her clan. Rukia lowered her head in shame.

Oh, how she regretted this. She should have made Renji go. Or better: not going at all. This had been a stupid idea. To confront her brother like this was idiocy. She should have known better.

"Seireitei and the Sōtaichō have made no such mistake," her brother continued. "Hinamori is a criminal who will take responsibility for her actions."

In one terrifying moment, his eyes actually met hers for the first time in years. Rukia could feel how his spiritual pressure was rising dangerously. "You will not speak of this again."

"Yes, nii-sama," she said with her head lowered.

His Reiatsu went back to normal again and he looked away. "Good," he said with his usual monotone voice.

Then he left, heading towards the Senzaikyū and Sōkyoku Hill.