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.
This chapter gave me so much trouble and I'm so so sorry how late it is. There is so much that I wanted to do in this chapter, the first half of it was pretty easy but the second half was harder because it meant that I had to work around a few things that Kubo had written in a way that didn't change them, the chapters these sections were written about turned out to be very tightly written with little wiggle room and almost impossible to work around. I think I did ok. I'm not 100% satisfied but I think this is easily the best it's going to be.
[] = denotes flashback*
*Flashbacks not in Order
Not Mine
Queen Protects King (Remix)
Miya wanted to be surprised. Deep down he had longed for any other reality than the one in front of him. But fate was nothing but a cruel mistress, and so when icey grey eyes looked up at him he felt his heart clench and stutter almost to a stop. He had so many questions of course, like how or why or even if it was possible - but those questions he found stuck in his throat. They wouldn't come out no matter how much he attempted to voice them. The girl in front of him looked just as he remembered her, save the pointed cross shaped scar on her neck. For a moment she stared at him, and he thought he saw recognition in her eyes. But that quickly passed. From his place uptop a ruined building Captain Mayuri looked at him, "Friend of yours?"
"Yes." Miya answered.
"Shame."
He glared at the man, "Do not act as if you care Taichou. False sympathies do not look fetching on one such as yourself."
"You flatter me." he waved his hand and then thumbed across his shoulder to where the zombified body of Captain Hitsugaya was making quick work of both Ikkaku and Yumichika. Miya wanted to feel sorry for them but the two of them had mocked him for his own weakness enough times that he could not muster the strength, "Will you keep your house clean while I clean my own?"
"That is why I came here." Miya said.
"Thank you."
As he turned a sword was aimed at his neck, a sword which Miya stopped with his own. The girl he was fighting stepped backwards quickly to avoid the sword he pointed her way, "Hara- ne Kuchiki Taichou would be very ashamed of you Yori-kun." he chided her.
"Is that person special to you?" she asked.
"My friend and mentor. And she would be greatly disappointed in you right now."
Yori shrugged, "Then I'll just have to cut you down to get to her. Not that hard."
A long time ago, before he had met Captain Hara and he and Yori had wandered the halls of school talking about this and that he had thought he would never care for a person as much as he did her. He had been wrong of course, Captain Takahashi had walked into his life and then been snuffed out. But because of the Captain he had also met another, a woman who wore her heart behind iron bars. Somehow he had cracked through those bars, and found himself the sole protector of her legacy. Until recently he had not done a good enough job to live up to her high expectations. Paperwork was one thing, but paperwork could not kill you. Swords could, "Justice, Reason, Truth. Those are the words words we swear to. There is a certain poetic glamour in them don't you think? If Hara Taichou is the sword then I am her shield. You will not pass by me."
If someone had told him he would have chosen Captain Hara over Yori he would have laughed - such a thing would never occur. But that had been a time that felt far away, even if it had only been a few weeks, "Disappointing!" Yori crowded, "Still, can't let you beat me." her eyes gleamed at the thought of a challenge.
The way Yori looked, light in her eye at the prospect of a fight reminded him of how Yori had always been. She had always been so strong, and anything that she could do to push herself gave her joy, "Oh Yori." seeing what had become of his friend broke his heart.
"Tobu, Chiisaihotaru."
Miya had seen Yori do this so many times it was not a surprise, yet he found himself impressed that this zombie version of his friend could still access the same skills that she could when she was whole. It made him wonder if there was something that could be salvaged or saved. So strongly he wanted to believe that notion. His Captain would have called it foolishness but Yori was his effulgent sun, and if he was going to fight her he wanted to believe that it wouldn't be for naught. Still as her blade detached from her sword, and the tobu of her sword wrapped around her fist like a small brass knuckle he stepped into a ready stance.
He did not have to wait long - Yori was fast, much faster than her tiny body gave her credit for. He dodged her punch but as he did so he saw the telltale sign of her pumping her first backward behind her. A second later the blade of her sword punctured into his shoulder. He had to grit his teeth against the pain. The blade pulled out of his shoulder and came to rest beside Yori's shoulder - floating there in the empty space. This was Yori's shikai, and one she had perfected over time. Her blade disconnected from the tuba and hilt of the sword, meanwhile the tuba created a guard over her fist for easy damage. Her sword was then controlled by the hilt of the blade and could fly around her at will. If her fist missed you - her sword almost never did.
In the few seconds that he contemplated this Yori was already in front of him and punching him in the gut, sending him flying backwards. They way his body jolted with the punch made him feel so unelegant, if he had not been in combat he would have surely cried at the broken poetry of it all. He steadied himself, finding his grace once more but the steel of her blade cut into his side. If he hadn't twisted away the sword would have slashed him through. Leaving but two pieces of his body to flutter uselessly in the wind. Yori predicted his movements and her knuckled fist slammed into the wound she had just made - forcing blood out of the deep cut, "Yori." he grunted.
"That's my name. Don't wear it out."
Her fighting style felt so familiar. The way she moved - how she was able to take advantage of blind spots like no one he had ever met. It took him back to all the times they had trained together, the endless defeats she had sprung upon his person until his body was black and blue. Isane shaking her head while healing him back to perfect beauty, and telling them that she wouldn't tell her Captain this time, but to please be more careful next time. How they never were. He coughed blood and looked up at the pale shell of his friend, "Please."
She laughed at him, "You're hesitating? Now? I won't." she intensified her attack.
He was, damn him. And he hated it. The moment Yori had hit him his heart had split in two - his loyalty to his Captain against his loyalty to his friend. Where had all his effervescent thoughts and beliefs gone? This was not his usual splendor, his normal grace. He was a lieutenant, he had a job to do. But as Yori continued to pummel on him he felt his concentration slipping. Blood hazed his vision and it felt almost as if he was drunk on it. Drunk on the pain and his own indecision. It filled him up and he supped on it as a Mad Queen engorged, "Nejiru, Tessen."
The words slipped from his mouth before he had know he had spoken them, but as the wind took hold of the battlefield Yori laughed, "You have to do better than that."
Ah - right, she was undead after all. It gave her protection from his shikai. The fact that he had even thought that he could defeat her this way, with this attack was laughable. His side could not stop bleeding, red soaking his shihakushō and he felt himself slipping even further into the haze. Blood filled his mouth and he swallowed it down, he couldn't fall here but he saw no way out. His heart pounded deep in his chest and a dizziness overcame him. This was the true drunken frenzy of battle - the moment before you were dragged down forever never to resurface. Total blackout. As he slipped in and out a voice whispered into his ear, "This is the best booze I have ever drunk."
He laughed humorlessly, "Not the time Tessen."
She hiccuped and then burped, "It's the only time. Now stand and fight. I want to ride this out until the end."
"I'm not sure I have the strength."
He found himself standing in a bar, the floor slick with blood that stank like booze. Tessen stat on one of the bar stools, almost passed out. She waved him over and he sat next to her, "Tessen."
She passed him a huge glass pint of blood. It smelled like sake and it made him want to retch, "Then drink, and find the strength."
Hesitation must have shown on his face but eventually he drank. As the putrid liquid slid down his throat and into his gullet he found himself slowly restored. But it wasn't just that, the drink filled him with words - expanded them outward until they merged with his spine and fired into his synapses, until they wound themselves into his brain - searing into the back of his skull forever. He blinked and looked at Tessen, who was now sitting up looking at him eyes glassy, "Thank you." he said.
"Yeah, well." her speech was the most slurred he had ever heard it, "it was time."
She patted him on the back and fell over onto the floor.
Miya opened his eyes and while his wounds still hurt, they no longer seemed as bad as they had before. His whole body felt lighter. He had allowed himself to fall into grief, to hope blindly for a moment that this Yori could become the Yori he loved again. But despair was such an ugly thing, and he had long ago decided to never be ugly again. He had a King to protect, and a princess to return to. In front of him Yori glared, "Where did you go off to?"
No longer held back by fear he pointed his sword at her, "Ban. Kai. Han-Shunkan Genkaku."
Yori wiped her eyes, and then attempted to clear them again. Miya could not blame her for her shock, "Two?"
Miya moved quickly not wasting anymore time, and Yori danced backwards blocking his sword. She attempted to attack him with her sword blade but the other Miya - the copy, swatted her flying blade away protecting him from harm. A scowl crossed her face and Miya decided he liked that look on her. She moved in to attack Miya, her fist aimed at his belly but the copy who had blocked her blade placed himself in front of her, and her first met his flesh instead.
Miya thanked his lucky stars that she hadn't connected with his actual body yet and watched as she smirked. However it was short lived. Her distraction with the copy allowed Miya to land a dead hit on her - slicing deeply into her side. Yori spit out blood and got into a fighting stance again. His next attack she dodged, striking out to hit him. This time her fist connected with Miya's body, and a crack rang out of breaking bones, "Got you!" she crowed excitedly.
Behind her a voice spoke up, "Missed. Just barely. By say - a second." he flashed the the skin of his unbruised stomach.
"You were just there!"
Miya yawned lazily, and delicately covered his mouth as he did so, "Was I? I felt like I danced away from your fist, as the beautiful butterfly dances away from harm."
Miya stepped around her and for two seconds she continued to look where he had once been, speaking as if he was still there and she was looking at him, "Rather a pompous -." she said to the empty space, and Miya laughed. She blinked again, eyes going wide as saucers, "Where did you-" she turned around to face him and Miya smiled brightly - a smile he hopped she appreciated.
"You won't get through me now, and you will not touch Hara Taichou."
Miya was sure he cut into her before she even heard the end of the word Taichou uttered, her eyes still wide bright and confused. Her hand which had been holding the sword fell to the ground in a thump, blood spraying from her now limbless shoulder. For another moment she didn't even react to the loss of her arm, and then three second later a scream rent the air. It wasn't very pretty, Miya mused but the deed had been done. She had been defeated. He thought Yori would have been proud of him.
A shadow loomed behind him as Mayuri towered over him, "Are you done with her?" how Mayuri had known which actual body of his was real and which was the copy Miya did not know.
"If you're asking me if I would ever leave her for you to ugly up, don't even make such a joke - she is not yours to dismantle at your will."
"I am your elder." Mayuri said.
"As if I have ever listened to my elders."
"What is your plan then?" the creepy Captain leered at him.
"To save her from you."
Across from them Yori was holding her bleeding stump, her eyes still glaring daggers, but a little to the left of her where he had been standing just seven seconds prior. As he stared at her Miya steeled his heart to what he had to do - and returned to combat.
[Miya showed off his new badge to Yori proudly. She had been gone on mission and he hadn't been able to talk to her for about two weeks since his whole world had shattered and then been rebuilt. How he had a bit more perspective on everything, and that while his heart was still broken he understood that this was how promotions usually happened in Seireitei, one could not be replaced unless one was gone. So instead of being upset at the badge, he decided that he would be proud of it. Captain Hara had chosen him, and had even let him customize his own badge a little bit. The purple ribbon used to tie it on, eye catching and fabulous.
The Gotei was throwing a huge party to what Miya knew to be Captain Hara's chargen. Now that both he and Captain Hara were back in Seireitei at the same time Captain Ukitake had deemed it time. His Captain had hemmed and hawed but no one could say no to Ukitake's eyes when he begged. And even then his begging wasn't the stereotypical begging, it was more telling with a hint of "do this for me" thrown in.
He could see Captain Hara across the room shaking hands and accepting congratulations, but she looked like she wanted to be anywhere but there. Something about her eyes screamed help me. As Miya looked on Byakuya finally entered the room and he saw his Captain visibly relax. He wondered if she knew yet - or would ever know, how deeply her feelings for that man ran. Rangiku elbowed him, "You were saying?"
That snapped him back to attention, "I was saying that I cannot wait to go to meetings."
The whole table broke out into laughter after he said this, Izaru flushed as he spoke - already highly drunk, "They are not as fun as they seem Miya-san."
"Well I think I've earned it."
Yori patted his arm, "I'm sure you have."
Miya blistered at that.
On the other side of the room Setsuna could not help but look over to the table as laughter broke out. Beside her, Ukitake looked on amused, "He seems happy."
"He finally got what he wanted, perhaps not in the way he wanted but - he is good at rebounding."
As she spoke Byakuya walked up to where she was standing and put out his hand for her to shake it. Seeing him in a position equal to hers made her feel odd. It didn't feel right, although his blood was still noble and hers was still common. She took his hand and it felt warm in hers, "Congratulations Hara Taichou."
"Thank you Kuchiki-sama."
The two of them had already memorialized her promotion together, so this whole thing was just a formality - a coming out of their friendship, as it were. His hand dropped from her's as they finished shaking, "Come sit with me?" he asked.
"I would be honored too." she looked at Ukitake for permission to leave.
"This isn't my party, it's yours - go have a little fun."
Together she and Byakuya found a table in the corner and sat down, away from prying eyes. Perhaps it was because this was not unusual for them, but she felt safer here tucked away with Byakuya rather than out in the open with all the people who had been gawking at her and making instances of shaking her hand. Whatever it was she liked this better, felt herself easing into a more relaxed way of being, "Thank you for rescuing me." she said.
"There was nothing difficult in it."
"You know I would do the same right?"
"Hm?"
A man walked over and served them sake in small cups and left the bottle, "Rescue you?"
"Let's hope it never comes to that."
"Let's."
Setsuna picked up her cup and Byakuya did the same. They clinked their small porcelain cups together, "To your Captaincy. May it last for many long years to come." Byakuya told her.
The words warmed her belly. The heated sake did the same when she took a small sip.]
The chain of hearts stabbed into Setsuna and she had to remember how they had gotten here. Things had seemed calm at first - the defeat of the lower members of the Quincy army proving to not be too difficult. Then this large man and his ability to shoot out heart beams, to take all your love away and replace it with adoration for him and only him had appeared. She and Byakuya had been doing well too - until Hisagi and his interference. It had just been a short moment of distraction and yet… her heart beat under her chest and she felt short of breath. She clamped her teeth together, this wasn't how she had wanted to go out. She was stronger than this - better than this, colder than this. But the heat crawling up into her body could not be denied. It was stronger than anything she could even imagine, more powerful than any drug or drink, "Byakuya." she whispered.
He turned to look at her and his eyes widened just a small fraction, "Setsuna -" he hesitated again.
"Don't hold back." it was the last thing she could choke out that belonged to her, "For I shall not stop attacking you for Pepe-sama's sake."
His eyes hardened and she was glad to see it, "Chire, Senbonzakura."
Her sword moved in such an arc that she hoped that the beauty of it captured Pepe-sama's attention. Byakuya blocked her sword and her eyes narrowed, he should know better to try to stop her attack. After all could he not see the love that was imbued in each and every one of them, that fighting for Pepe-sama only pushed it to the limits?
He flash stepped away and she moved quickly to match. A blossom of Byakuya's shikai surrounded her and they cut into her flesh giving Pepe-sama a beautiful bouquet of red. She hoped he found it lovely. Still her body was made to take hits and such tiny cuts would not cause her to crumble under the pressure, "Snap out of it Kuchiki Taichou." Byakuya demanded of her.
"I would if you would just allow yourself to fight for love as I do." she told him.
She flash stepped up to him but he was faster. Her speed had always been great because of their training together but even now she could still not outpace him. In a normal situation she knew that this wouldn't bother her - but Pepe-sama was watching and she didn't want to disappoint him. In some things she was better than Byakuya - her body despite it's small size was intensely trained to take more damage than his own to the point where sometimes Byakuya compared her to Komamura. It was not feint praise either, coming from him it always was said in the deepest regards. Still, Pepe-sama was just a small bit away his eyes on the battle, and so far she had done nothing to impress.
Her shoulder ruptured in blood as Byakuya's shikai continued it's relentless assault, and it coated her cheek. Instead of moving backwards to escape the next attack, she pressed forward into the pink bloom in front of her. She emerged, and Byakuya was ready for her - their swords clashed. Now that she was closer to him his shikai was less of a threat, "You understand why I have to do this right?" she asked.
"With great clarity. Do not worry, I shall not allow you the pleasure of victory."
"I wish I could stop myself. But Pepe-sama is watching."
"I do not doubt your resolve."
"To hear that warms my heart."
They continued to fight, steel against steel. They knew each other so well that Setsuna was not surprised to find that they were equally matched. Blow after blow they continued to look for drops in the defense of the other - but none were able to be found. Just when Setsuna would think she had a clear shot at his middle or a good moment for a stab through the shoulder, her sword would be parried away by Byakuya's own skillful blade. It was almost like a dance the way they moved around each other, and Setsuna was entranced by it. But this was more than a dance, because one slip up on either of their sides could mean death - that was the brutality of it.
However as they fought, something in Setsuna was reminded of their training in their hidden cave - how she had reached up unabashed and fixed his kenseikan. That memory, just the small jolt of if was enough that her heart pounded once - and her next sword stroke was off beat by just one second. Byakuya stepped backwards about two feet, taking advantage of her missed sword stroke.
Setsuna smiled, she knew what would come now - he was trying to establish distance between them so he could use his shikai again. But Setsuna would not allow him that luxury, she would defeat him - slay him down for Pepe-sama's glory. She rushed forward, "Forgive me for this Byakuya."
"You are forgiven."
That confused her, it sounded defeatist but not overly so. Instead of re-activating his shikai, long put away while they fought with swords he entwined his fingers into an intricate pattern, and then bringing his hands together, clapped his palms against each other. The effect was instantaneous - large blank bands shot from the ground and wrapped around Setsuna pulling her down to the ground and immobilizing her. The bands were further cemented to the ground by several iron bars that acted almost like spikes. A perfectly executed kido - number 99, Kin. Setsuna strained forward and found that she was trapped, her sword hand tied against her body, rendering it immobile and useless, "Release me." she commanded of him.
Byakuya shook his head, "You gave me permission to kill you if needed, and for that I love you. But, if I killed you, I do not think I could live with myself. Now, I will end this battle and return you to your senses."
He turned away from her, and Setsuna found herself at a loss, her heart tugged in two - both for this man and for the great Pepe-sama who had shown her beauty she had never seen before. Still, as Mayuri entered the picture to chastise her husband she could not help but be glad - Byakuya was alive. That was all that mattered right now.
A/N: I debated about two things in this chapter pretty intensely before deciding to go forward with it. The first was the reappearance of Yori. The second was giving Miya Bankai. I am glad I did both and for the most part, do not regret it. I'm also glad I got to write a semi-serious fight between Byakuya and Setsuna.
Translations (and notes)! - All Translations are done by ME so if they are wrong I deeply apologize. I did my best to double check all of them but mistakes will happen I'm sure.
Han-Shunkan Genkaku- True Japanese translation - Half-Instant Illusion/Hallucination | What I actually want it to be read as - Split-Second Mirrage
Miya's Bankai. His sword takes on a second form - himself. As first it seems simple, there are just two of him. But as the fight goes on he is able to move a few seconds faster than the opponent. He can reach a max speed of twenty second faster than the person he is fighting. However because it's a up-close tech any AOE usually is enough to counter it. It also doesn't make him faster instead it just slows the person he's fighting's reaction time.
Tobu, Chiisaihotaru - Fly, Small Firefly
Yori's shikai, the blade detaches from the handle and is given flight. This flight is controlled by the handle which wraps around the hand to provide a knuckle for hitting and protection.
As always:
Reviews are helpful but not necessary. I understand that this is an OC. If that is not your cup of tea then do not leave a comment saying all OC's suck, that is not helpful and will not make me delete the story. I too understand that most OC's suck, and yet I write anyway.