Pre-Note

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. This is for creative purposes. I do own this plot.

This, and the remaining few chapters of Part I: The Interioreum World will finally explain Rukia's past by simultaneously alternating between present and future events.

Minister Asa Cornel is based on the character created by V.C Andrews in Flowers in the Attic, Olivia Foxworth and the appearance of Ellen Burstyn who played Olivia Foxworth in the film, Flowers in the Attic (2014). Her most common line being "God sees everything" is a key part of Asa Cornel's character. Ellen Burstyn's representation of Olivia Foxworth is exactly her. I do not own that character, I do not claim rights to V.C Andrews' work nor do I intend on replicating anything else other than her appearance and bits of her personality.

I do not recommend watching the film since it may/will cause discomfort due to incest. Nonetheless, the character of Olivia Foxworth shows up in the 20-30 minute portion of the film so if any interest stems, you're free to look. I will still have those images provided in Images For This Chapter.

There are Images for this Chapter.

Reminder: Mature-rating. Mystery-themed. Light sexual content. Crucial to remain attentive to detail. This is for Rukia and her relationships.

Night of Disruptions

The moment the Head Captain opened his eyes, Byakuya and Ichigo were taken elsewhere. They weren't allowed to hear what could've been said by the Head Captain as the world around them dripped like wax. Suddenly, they were outside again. The human world to be exact, in a night which was starless.

In front of them was a scene they needed to adjust too as it was clear that some battle had taken a toll on the ground. There were a few faces that Ichigo recognized rather quickly.

It was Ririchiyo and her guardians.

What was on the ground was ice, it was from Sode No Shirayuki.

###

(AN: Bount arc / Episode 77-78)

After the creature was frozen, Rukia took some time to muse on what to do next. Though it was cut short as though slight and barely sensible, a sheatsu presence was detected.

She looked at the source and from far, directly diagonal from her there was someone, the image was blurred, it was already hard detecting the sheatsu in the first place and the person wasn't making it any easier.

They were solely relying on the pressure to conceal themselves.

Rukia squinted until a single clear glimpse was visible. It was the Captain and something was terribly wrong as he was one knee on the ground.

Upon seeing it, she quickly flash-stepped to the spot she remembered. In the background, the 'Kuchiki-dono' from the princess could be heard though Rukia couldn't pay attention to it.

She raised her hand, in what looked like air to her, onto his shoulders. She guessed the right spot—the air became a shoulder and a mint green piped her like cloth. She could see him fully now.

"What's wrong?" Were the first words which left her mouth though a quick analysis already told her what. "I told you not to overwork yourself. What did you do?"

"I will leave soon." He informed her. "Let me see Byakuya."

Rukia sucked in a breath. "I told you to be careful. What did you do? Did you try to use your zanpakutō? Did you release too much sheatsu?"

Panicked as she was, she realized he was holding onto a thin thread that was dying to snip soon. Any moment now he'd become nothing but dust and his soul, like mist, would depart into the skies.

Without hesitation, she secured her left arm around his shoulders—forming a portal beneath them.

"Let's hope he's in his office." Rukia mumbled under her breath as she took him just there.

Now, they were in his office. On the desk, completely oblivious to them, his attention was fixed on papers. Crouched down, near the door far from the desk, they were in front of him.

"Look, he's here." Rukia gestured to him, feeling nervous. Though he had assured her that he could come back, this was his first time leaving.

The experiment had been improbable from the start and now, here he was, barely clinging onto the life that had been kindled from that very one.

"Captain…" it came out anxiously. "Are you sure you can come back from this? What if—"

"I will need time." He responded. Rukia's shoulders lolled, the life was really sinking out of him. With each word, she could identify how much of a struggle it was to clasp on.

It only made her contemplate the idea more of unveiling him right now, in front of Byakuya, for him to see his own grandfather. She still found the Captain's plea to keep it a secret ridiculous.

Even now, he wanted to see him and yet, he didn't want Byakuya to see him. It was painful to watch as it was to think of it.

The guilt was winning. Though, she wasn't given the opportunity to make use of it.

"Wait for me…" was said like a breezy whisper and then, like a bunch of beads scattering onto the ground, the body she held onto became like itty-bitty bead mist—illuminated green.

Wistfully, she looked at the disfigured orb of shimmery mint dust fused with emerald. An idea of just keeping it in a glass bottle like a priceless treasure came to mind though, she was no marionettist, only ever the marionette.

But with that idea, came another—even better. She turned left to the shelves and eyed a clear scroll flask, shaped like a jar with a cork. Carefully she pulled it from the shelf and took the lid and cork off.

When she did, she leaned the flask into the messy clutter and it sucked into the glass. She put the cork and lid back to seal it and looked up to Byakuya who noticed her presence immediately.

They'd send him off together.

"Rukia." He acknowledged.

With a weak smile, she bowed. "Uh, Nii-sama, I…"

She instinctively held the jar tighter. "Could you...come out for a sec, to do something with me?"

"Um…" her eyes wandered to the ground. "It'll only take a second. I promise, I just need someone to come out."

"What is it?" He eyed the paperwork and then her.

She bit her lip, unable to properly explain. "Uh...never mind then."

How was she to explain that she wanted to send off the spiritual particles of his grandfather into the skies? There was no logic attached to that even if she changed the person's identity.

She turned around to leave. It might've seemed like she was easily defeated though truthfully, she was still trying to work through Byakuya. It had only been a few months since her execution, they were only starting to act a bit differently—a lot more on her part.

She was trying to become less stiff and understand the boundaries of this new 'welcomeness' and she didn't want to go too overboard. At least not now.

The chair then squeaked and without much thought, she spun back and saw him standing.

Wordlessly, she led him outside to the 6th Division's grand balcony—floors white with blue bellflowers. Once they reached the left edge, she stopped—unscrewing the lid and then cork.

"This is…" she knew it sounded sort of unbelievable. When a person died in the Soul Society, their soul dispersed and became the reishi which made up the place. Having this kept in a jar meant that the soul of the person had come to her first to be captured and then released manually. "The soul of my friend."

He glanced at her, she knew. Even though she was standing two steps ahead of him.

It sounded ridiculous. So much that she was surprised when he didn't walk away sooner or at least, disdain the possibility. The absence of his response in either one of these forms allowed her to continue.

"I just wanted to send him off, that's all." She explained quietly before raising the scroll flask and having the particles of soul come out and swirl around them.

Like glitter it scintillated before it started to twist and soar into the air. In the midst of it, Rukia found herself softly smiling—she waved to it as it unwinded and stole a glance to the right of her where some of the mist stayed.

One twitched at Byakuya's nose before soaring up and she could've sworn his eyes temporarily opened a bit in a surprised or intrigued way. She found that he too watched the particles as they dispersed into the air.

It made the mission she set out to do complete.

She then wondered what had intrigued him to give out a reaction. Did he feel the presence? Recognize it? Did the Captain give any sort of indication? This was his sheatsu and reiatsu combined. Perhaps he had and Byakuya noticed.

Though that did make her slightly irritated with him. He could do that but couldn't see him in person.

Byakuya turned around and on cue, she did too but not without looking back at the skies with the faint glimmer still visible.

"You can show him your face through your soul but not in person?" She whispered harshly to the particles that were beginning to trek elsewhere and fade.

"That was your friend." Byakuya stated with his back to her. She knew it, he had felt it.

"Huh?" She jolted before nodding her head as if he could see her. "Yes, it was."

He didn't say anything back to her which encouraged her to say something she never imagined herself doing at least now.

"If...you want, I can show you a place which makes you feel like that." She was really giving it away now. By saying what she did, she was admitting that she recognized he felt a different response to the particles. A familiar one.

"Tomorrow," she didn't know what she was doing anymore. Perhaps it was the guilt giving her this much confidence to even set a date. "In the morning, near the spider lily field. I can show you something then."

###

The environment changed and they were taken to just that.

###

She stood in front of the field at dawn. Sunrise made it all the more beautiful.

Beside her, the surprise of the hour, Byakuya stood. She didn't think he'd come as he had walked off wordlessly yesterday but he did. She was glad she waited instead of returning to the human world where she was stationed.

Rather than explaining why she had wanted to show him this place or even trying to justify how she knew he had felt something from the Captain's reishi, she thought of getting straight to the point before his patience expired.

"There," she pointed to the patch of dry ground in an oval shape beneath the largest, longest, and droopiest tree branch.

It was an instruction. She looked at Byakuya and slightly gestured with her head that she meant for him to step into there.

"You'll...find it there."

His silent obedience was something very new to her. Fortunately, he didn't remain like that for long as he stopped once he was inside the field.

"You are not coming." He observed.

Normally she'd make a queasy face though Byakuya didn't know her relation with this lily field. She was sure he didn't even know she had a fear of spiders. This would all be new information.

"I—no, you go." It was the simplest answer.

He studied her a bit before moving to the spot where she had asked. Spider lilies surrounded him but not at that spot.

"Face one palm up." Rukia instructed. "You should start to feel it soon."

And he did. He most definitely did. Though not at first—she could tell he was hesitant, perhaps contemplating why he was even participating in her silly request anyways, nonetheless, he eventually did and she didn't need his verbal confirmation that it was happening because she knew it would.

Feeling almost accomplished, she took a glance up at the tree and then back to Byakuya's back before stepping back to give him more privacy, even though she was already at a reasonable distance before.

Behind her, Roger waited for her on the cement rectangular fountain.

"I am glad you did it."

Rukia agreed. "I'm glad too."

She sighed and braced against the fountain.

"Take it from here." Those words were directed to the tree and something, may it be how the wind blew or how a few dead leaves danced before hitting the ground, indicated that she had been heard.

###

"Did...it just..?" Ichigo was at loss of words, looking at Byakuya for some kind of explanation.

Though he too was without one.

Without a doubt, there had been some communication there despite nothing visibly happening. It was almost as if the tree's actions were intentional to signal something or alert her of its awakening.

"This field...if there's some kind of connection with this and another world of the dead then, what does that mean for everyone else who lost someone here? Is this the only way to communicate with them?" Ichigo asked questions but he knew he was not getting any answers.

"It is the tree." Byakuya said.

"You think it's a gateway or something? An entity?"

"Perhaps it gains something from having visitors."

Ichigo looked back to the tree. "But what? Does it enhance its power or something? This was the only place that didn't get affected by that miasma."

And when he didn't answer, Ichigo lowered his tone. "Listen,"

If there was any truth to what they were guessing, this was a pretty incredible place. He needed to know if the person Byakuya felt was…

"I know it's none of my business but I still want to know what you felt. I need to make sense of this, what kind of world beyond the Soul Society could exist for the dead? Did you just feel someone or did you speak to someone?"

"There is a sensation."

"You already told me that. But what kind? How did you know? Did you ask Rukia about anything you felt?" Ichigo's need to know was consuming him.

"When I had asked, she claimed that she stumbled upon it by accident in a pursuit to communicate with her friend." Byakuya answered but avoided the rest.

"I can't say that's probably true 'cause I still think her ownership of the moonstone contributes to this." Ichigo looked back at him. "When she said that, what did you say?"

Byakuya didn't respond. Ichigo took his silence for he had believed her—then.

"Well," Ichigo surrendered. "She took you here for a reason. Even if the tree gains something, you did too. After that, you can't tell me you didn't come back here on your own. Or at least, try to figure out how this whole thing worked."

His silence kept giving him the answers he wanted to hear verbally. But given what he was implying, Ichigo didn't think either method would make it any less believable.

You didn't?

He'd always seen Byakuya as the type to seek logic over the unexplained. Except this time, it seemed he hadn't.

A bit lost, he let the wind sing for a moment—hoping for a verbal answer this time. "Why didn't you?"

Pause.

"The younger you made it pretty clear that you don't believe in miracles or anything that goes against the logic you know. Something tells me that belief never changed so why didn't you try to find anything after this?"

Like that, the area dripped into nothingness and they were taken right back to the group who didn't even notice they were gone. Ichigo never got an answer and before he could ask again, a new conversation, on the side, then sparked their interest.

"Grandfather,'' the younger Byakuya acknowledged. "It seems that the Lieutenant of the 8th Division has gone through something similar too."

"Look—" he pointed to the pile of drawings from his seat. "I have gone through them. Though it's not completely like Rukia's, the art style is very similar."

Ginrei's glance barely lasted a second. "She is only a temporary target."

A flare in Byakuya's eyes stood out for more information.

"When advantageous, chosen ones like the Lieutenant are susceptible to falling in the same line." He explained.

"Chosen ones?" It came out as a grimace though he was puzzled by the term. "I thought...there were no consistent connections between victims?"

"There are none that are consistent; however, souls who may be susceptible to its influence have a specific feature. If they have it, they can be used temporarily."

By now, he stood in front of Byakuya, separated by a metre—to his left, the present Byakuya's stretcher remained still.

With his neck craned higher, he asked—"what is it?"

Their silver eyes were motionless, never leaving each other as Ginrei pulled the left side of his sleeveless haori, permitting his right hand to slither under the cloth and pull something out.

It was a paper—no. Photographs, two of them though Byakuya couldn't see what they were of.

Ginrei slid one away from the other and flipped it over for Byakuya to see as he handed it to them.

Byakuya didn't properly identify what it was of until it was in his hand. He observed the faded photograph which was mostly grey though distinct colours still found a way to be visible.

He recognized what it was. It was a photo he had seen a few times in the books he read. This was the photo of the noble assassin division members from the five great noble clans at the time before the split.

Easily, he detected the ones he knew. Sensei Okasake Hirosuke and Sensei Okasake Hiroshima stood mirroring each other in the center. Okasake Hirosuke to the left and Hiroshima to the right.

Elevated a bit higher, to Sensei Okasake Hirosuke's left was Okasake Gureta. Not even the lack of colour for film at the time could dull that bright and refreshing shade in her eyes.

Above her stood someone Byakuya knew very well. With purple eyes, much like the shade of Rukia's, a young woman—his grandmother—stood. Her long ebony hair was tied in a high ponytail, much like Okasake Gureta.

It seemed to be a popularized hair trend at the time though each was different in their own way. His grandmother, unlike Gureta's loops, wore her hair normally with one kenseikan holding onto one of the two long, thick strands of front hair she left out with her side bangs.

This was how he had known she was an assassin. She was dressed in the same black hanfu—her sleeves rolled up like Rukia's but with white gloves instead of black. Behind her, his young grandfather, a splitting image of his father and even him stood with miniature differences.

Having seen this before, nothing looked out of the ordinary except one.

There was a holographic-like child who looked like Okasake Jūshirmai. He stood in between the space of his grandmother who was elevated a bit higher and Okasake Gureta.

He was not a part of the original picture. His appearance seemed forcibly added by poor technology.

Byakuya pointed at the hologram-like boy and looked up. "Grandfather, the Okasake heir is here."

"That he is…"

"This—" Byakuya took another peek at the picture. "—He couldn't have been there. But how…"

Madly his eyes went back and forth while Ginrei handed him the other photo. Byakuya took it with caution, it was ripped on both ends.

Once he placed it over the other one, the same familiarity he had felt with the other one, returned. This was the annual noble heir gathering photo. The one with Rukia and him that he had seen though slightly altered (AN: Rid Emotions).

For one, the photo was cut down to show only six people; his grandfather, his aunt, his father, him, Rukia to his left, and Sensei Okasake Hirosuke.

The other Sensei Okasake and his son were ripped out of the photo but it seemed that the boy refused to be ripped out. Just like before, the holographic image appeared—slightly behind but in between Rukia and him.

He looked exactly as he did now but only smaller—as young as them. The photograph made him a bit squamish. The heir had been ripped from the actual photo and yet this spirit-like image remained of him here.

"He is here too." Byakuya observed, moving back from one photo to the next. "But—"

"That is how you know whether you are susceptible or not. If you can see that boy in those photographs, you are. I cannot see him, I never have." Ginrei confessed, a confession which intrigued Byakuya immediately.

"You can not see him?" He whipped around the noble heir gathering photo quickly and pointed to the boy he could see.

"I cannot."

###

"There," Rangiku pointed. "I can see him."

"What the hell, me too." Ikkaku said beside her, bent down to see the photograph the younger Byakuya was holding.

The Head Captain remained mute though his eyes were open. If not for Ginrei's sudden arrival, perhaps he would've said a few words.

Orihime gasped. "Me too, he's right there."

"I don't see anything." Izuru mumbled.

"What do you mean? He's right there!" Rose exclaimed.

"How the hell does he do that?" Ichigo asked before rubbing his eyes. "Get into our eyesight like that? How?"

"What's he doin' beside Okasake Gureta and…" Shuhei arched a brow. "That Kuchiki lady."

Captain Ukitake quickly shifted his lowered eyes to the right. "Sensei Kuchiki."

"Oh, right—Sensei Kuchiki." Shuhei corrected himself as an uneasy aura burned far left of him. His teeth chattered though his closed mouth hid it.

"Do any of you see him anywhere else?" Kensei asked.

They all imputed their answers, the conclusion was no.

"You don't think Sensei Okasake and Sensei Kuchiki…" Orihime started to say though she quickly shut herself up.

Ichigo looked to the Head Captain who remained mute. "Do you know anything about this?"

They could no longer look at the photos as it was given back to Ginrei who took them and tucked them into the pocket beneath his haori on the top left.

Their attention returned to the Head Captain who remained a statue, he rarely blinked. Near them, Ginrei left through a portal and oddly enough the scenery began to change to reflect the same area he entered in.

Before they knew it, they had somehow been transported with him to wherever this place was. They were definitely still in present time. They looked to the Head Captain for answers but none came out.

Ichigo observed the location.

It was an academy classroom. The desks reminded him of what an old school room in the olden days would look like but in a more polished form.

Tablet arm desks of a dark chestnut ran in rows of ten. Young students sat with black assassin uniforms with a specific red mark stitched into the blouse part of the uniform.

The wallpaper was mustard yellow and decorated the room for the most part. To the left of them a large blackboard ran to the door, built into the walls. Adjacent to it, another one ran across from him of forest green.

The lights in the room radiated a yellow which was bright and showered the cleaned and polished to perfection furniture with gloss and the perfectly seated students, back straight and hands intertwined on their desk like robots.

Ichigo identified that they were in a stand alone room. A portable. The ceiling was proof enough, it was slanted like a roof.

On the blackboard, the words 'Slay the Eye' were messily written with a drawing of one next to it. In front of it, the most noticeable figure stood.

An elder woman with hair as grey as coins, large in size, and relatively tall. There were miniature hills which ran up the front parts of her hair like waves while the rest was pulled back tightly into a bun.

Slight crinkles pinched at her skin. Her eyes were sharp and cold as the scales on tuna. She didn't really have any lips, only a thin line which looked more like a pencil stroke.

Near her lids, mauve eyeshadow, which was probably the only thing which looked remotely 'bright' about the woman, was slightly smeared from the outer corners of her eyes to just a bit above the edge of her brows which were thin. A flick of candy red liner completed the look on her outer lid with one round silver gem on each.

Her dress was like one of those nanny dresses. Close to black but more like the grey on foil.

Her hands were behind her back as her cold eyes surveyed the room. The appearance of Byakuya's grandfather didn't shift her attention, it remained strictly on her students.

"In the eyes of God, the virtuous ones will always prosper in a life that is righteous, wise, and fulfilling. Because," she let her hands loose, "when you adhere to these virtues, you form a relationship with your inner purity. The purity which sent you here and not the abomination that is Hell. If you were born here, the same rule still applies. God will protect you if you protect it and what it gave. It will cherish you as its own and ensure that your life, if it should end, is safely driven to peace and away from the devilry of those shadows."

She spoke like she was a sergeant giving drills. Rough and heavy. If this was supposed to be an uplifting lecture, it didn't feel like one.

Ichigo was still lost on the whole 'God' part. Unless, she was referring to the Soul King.

Her head snapped right as if she saw him and immediately, Ichigo's heart leaped. The woman's eyes were terrifying, her stare even more blood-curdling.

He didn't like them at all.

"God is friendly. God will honor you unless you do something which dishonours it. The list of virtuous deeds are endless but plenty are broken daily however, God does not punish those people, why? Because they have not dishonoured it."

She raised her index finger. "There is only one sin that you cannot force, beg, or cry for God to forgive if you dare, with a conscious mind, involve yourself in. God cannot be dishonoured. If it is, if you as its child bring shame to its eyes, you will be punished with that exact sin for you have shamed the creation of God itself and gone against it."

"Evil!" She slammed a thick red book onto her desk. "Evil...cannot be remiss, evil should have no mercy for God created this world to be that of purity. So that, pure lives could prosper in an everlasting realm of righteousness. Evil cannot be dismissed even if you practice these virtues, the damage…..the sin...has already been done."

She left the desk and observed the students. Passionately, she continued.

"The sin…" she started slowly. "Is one which exists in a living, breathing form. A message sent from the shadows, a test of your will and strength."

She paused. "Spawns!"

The elder spat the words so harshly, Orihime gasped—startled.

"Spawns are the sin. An abomination. The opposite of purity, their very existence is a direct sin against the virtues. Spawns infest this world like leeches!" She slammed the desk of a student in front of her.

The student didn't flinch.

She resumed speaking low. "They cement themselves on land that isn't theirs. They prey and cling onto anything which feeds them power. They are sins, worthless sins. They dishonor God."

She licked her lips. "And dishonoring God….dishonoring God is the worst sin there is."

The elder drilled her gaze into each of the students. "God will not forgive you then. God will not save you then. God...will leave you on your own and have the shadows take you in. And believe me, that is the last place you want to go."

"The last place." She repeated. "And remember,"

She used her entire head, eyes, and all to deliver the next few lines. Her glare was hard and absolute.

"God sees everything." Those words were chilling to the ear. "God will know. You cannot hide a sign of dishonor under God's eyes. It will know what you do even if you hide it in your mind because that is God's power. God sees you and your deeds."

After a few more raking stares, she repeated.

"God sees everything." She left the words to settle a bit in a long fifteen seconds. Once they were up, she put her finger down. "You're dismissed."

In a flash, they gathered their books and disappeared.

With a cursed look, she watched the door swing back and forth to the left and then mumbled something to herself. Finally, she looked to Byakuya's grandfather.

Ichigo now noticed that there was a large black key attached to a bead chain in her left hand and a big emerald ring with a rectangular cut. She fumbled with it as her lips pressed tightly and eyed him.

"Hm." She observed him with a patronizing look. "Where were you?"

"There is a case," Byakuya's grandfather ignored her. "You will need to handle."

Her tongue ran over her lips once as she raised the glasses slung around her neck.

"What kind?" She released the glasses and averted her eyes to the desk.

"Major Ira."

The elderly woman stacked her books.

"It may not have been her own." Byakuya's grandfather said.

"A sin of two." The elder said. "How does she plead?"

"Guilty."

The elderly woman scowled in disgust. "Disgraceful."

"And what are you doing running a night class under lockdown orders?"

The woman twisted her mouth and tinkered with the key in her hand. "Reminding everyone what's a sin."

"There are soul shadows outside."

"Correct." She obviously didn't care. "No better time to enforce our virtues and prevent more abominations from being created. Those spawns have already caused enough trouble."

"Contravening the order of the law is a strike against the virtues."

"Oh, I'll be saved!" She brushed off in irritation. "The Lord can't do anything to me."

"So you say."

"It's those who immerse in the real sin which suffer."

"God sees everything." They spoke at the same time. Byakuya's grandfather had intentionally said it to mock her.

She sneered at him as she brought the books to her chest.

"Where's my grandniece?"

"Indulging in sin."

"The it has taken hold of her again." The elder said.

"She will return soon." Ginrei assured her. "And you will be the last person she meets."

He walked through the door ahead and she followed.

Rolling her eyes, she sarcastically said, "blame me for its sin but save my grandniece."

"By grandniece, you think she means Rukia?" Ichigo asked no one in particular.

"She's Hiro-sensei's sister-in-law so yes, that's who she means." Captain Ukitake explained.

The environment changed again.

This time, they were on dry land, peppered with wooden houses, the skies grey.

Byakuya turned right and saw himself.

###

"I-I'm really sorry, I-I can't tell you." The Head Mistress said. In her arms, she held a sleeping baby, her face pasty and drained.

The noble in front of her was demanding the name of someone she could not name as it was banned. It was the law now. She feared getting caught.

Messy strands of dark hair framed her face though she could still see, this was a high-ranking noble. A Kuchiki, a shinigami, and a Captain.

Even if the name was at the tip of her tongue to say, she could not. Though unfortunately, the man seemed determined.

"I need the name." He pulled back the photograph which had looked so like and yet unlike her. The woman didn't know why he'd even be looking for her.

Didn't he already know?

"I-I'm really s-sorry." She stammered. "I can't tell you the name."

"Why?"

She had no excuse.

"She temporarily stayed at this orphanage but left. She is under no law to protect her name."

"I'm sorry," she said in the midst of a weep. "I can't tell you. Our location has since changed. P-Please, I—"

"The name." Her heart leaped at how his silver eyes bore into her own. He was very stoic, his figure towering over her only made her feel smaller than she already felt in the eyes of nobility with all her stains.

"I-I'm really sorry," she attempted to close the door though he stopped it. "P-Please! I really c-can't."

She kept her head lowered now to avoid his piercing stare. Though he didn't show it, she was sure she was nearing the border of his patience.

"I can't be of help to you. Perhaps you can find—"

"I will not leave without the name of the person." He was serious. He had been from the very start.

She made the mistake of looking up again and regretted it instantly. For those eyes, told her exactly what she had been thinking.

His patience...she was testing it.

"You have to understand." She said in a rush. "This isn't something I can ju—"

"The name."

"But I can't say, I-I really can't. Please d-don't force me." She tried to sound as meek as possible in hopes he'd leave her alone. He could ask anyone, not just her—they wouldn't say it.

It went on like that for five minutes. It came to a point where she began to shake in fear. Her eyes were weathered, skin dark beneath them. She desperately wanted to go inside while the children were asleep to rest but this man was persistent.

"P-P-Please!" She wailed. "I-I really, r-really can't."

"The name."

After a gasp, "no! I'm really sorry, I-I can't tell you."

"W-Would y-you just—" she paused. "It isn't possible for me to tell you that name. I-I don't know it."

A lame excuse she knew he didn't buy.

She bowed her head even lower. "You can find help elsewhere."

He didn't say anything in response to that though she could see his feet. They hadn't moved.

"I-I really can't!" She made the mistake again. Even if it was only for a second, it was effective.

She tucked herself into the darkness of the cabin again with her hand tightly squeezing the handle of the door that he would not let her close.

"Please just go…" she pleaded with a sorrowful look. "I don't have an answer for you."

Again, she did the mistake and the stare of the noble only hardened.

"You must have the wrong idea. I-I have seen a woman that looks like her though...she didn't stay here."

Hurriedly, she spoke right after. "I'm sorry."

She bowed her head to close the door though again it was stopped.

"I really can't help you, would you please go searching somewhere else?" She begged in a whisper.

It didn't matter her pleading, the noble stayed. A presence never exhausted her so much. Even with all her whispered begging and the weariness so evident in her eyes.

Along the way, she grew frustrated. She needed to sleep and this was the only opportunity before the storm came and potentially woke some of the children.

"I really can't!" She shrieked. "Please...just l-let me be."

Of course he didn't move. A clap of thunder roared in the skies above them. She hastily looked to the sleeping children who fortunately remained asleep.

"What do you want?" She whispered though she had nothing to give. He was a noble, incredibly rich, there was nothing she could offer him except the answer.

"The name." He ordered once again.

"I can't." She said, harried by his persistence.

Another clap of thunder. She grew uneasy, the children could wake at any moment and all she needed to do was say a name and get rid of him.

She observed her surroundings. No one was out due to the upcoming storm in her area. They were practically alone and yet...she was scared or rather, hesitant to do so. If she was heard, that would be the end of her.

"I really can't. You must not bother me this much." She said, about to close the door again but it was jammed by something—a sack of potatoes.

Was this an offering? She looked up for any indication that it had been from him; however, the Captain remained the same. "I….."

She looked back down at the sack of potatoes—feeling conflicted. The orphanage needed food more than anything. They were on their very last tray of supplies.

She contemplated it yet again—her eyes slowly rising back up to meet his. Fringes of her curtain bangs sprang loose as a brisk of wind passed through.

It took several sentences of her own to convince her before she leaned close. Her heart was pounding as her body shook.

Her mouth was shaped to spit out the first syllable though it would take several moments for it to come out slowly.

"Ru…" her lips puckered. "...kia."

That's it. She did it. She pulled back and gulped nervously before frantically scanning the area for anyone who could've heard.

She wanted to breathe as a sign of relief though that wouldn't occur until he went away.

"Rukia." He repeated, she jolted—immediately raising her hand for him to stop it. If he was any normal man, she would've covered his lips.

Only a madman would break a law like that though it was clear, he didn't know of it. She hastily nodded her head one last time before he left.

Once he was metres away to her left, the sweet moment of relief she had planned on indulging in was easily crushed when someone stepped beside the cabin to her right.

They were only fifteen centimetres away as the door was built near the edge of the cabin. She easily recognized the pressure which almost crushed her.

In hysterics, her eyes widened. It was him.

"Rukia…" Okasake Jūshirmai repeated, letting the last syllable drag.

She was stunned. Wordless at first, she whimpered before rubbing her hands together.

"I—" she lowered her head, feeling the goosebumps run up all over her arms and that chill take over her as she scrunched her body closer. "Please…"

She trembled as he looked. "...understand…"

"What?"

"W-Well—"

"Your violation?" He asked, amused by her fallen tears. "I already did."

"I didn't mean it! P-Please, it wasn't me! It was him!" She shrieked. "H-He kept a-asking! He wouldn't l-let me go!"

"Oh?" He asked. "Is that your excuse for the Common Kuchiki Law as well?"

She remained silent. How could she have been so foolish to forget? She never had imagined herself in that position though she knew the common jist of it and yet when it came, it was rendered non-existent.

She was dead if anyone from that clan found out.

With his hands behind his back, he slowly walked back and forth. "This is refreshing as it is useful."

He was talking to himself but it urged her to argue back in her defense. "But he—"

"Wanted to know the name of the woman who looked like the one you showed." Jūshirmai finished for her quickly. "Ah yes, I know. But that doesn't change the fact that the woman is dead."

"Or." He paused. The grin grew wider. "Hiding."

She gasped at his assumption. "W-What? H-How could you—P-Please—"

"Please what?"

She was uncertain of what she had meant in that moment too.

"Spare me." She finished before taking a glance at the children.

"Oh?" He smirked. "And what do you suppose I do with your violation?"

"—I," she looked at the children. "Not in front of the kids."

She stepped back as he came in closer. "P-P-P-Please, wait!"

"Hm." He breathed against her forehead. "Lucky for you, I'm not too into playing hide and seek with Rukia again."

Her breathing trembled at the mention of her name again. More tears fell out of her eyes as he slowly pulled back.

She fell onto the ground with her knees.

Jūshirmai looked to the noble still walking. "I can see Ginrei's disapproval from here but it would be nice to employ someone with the task of searching. Don't you agree?"

He slightly kicked her arm before she nodded her head hurriedly to say, "Y-Yes."

"Good." He hummed. "Your violation has provided us with an interesting opportunity indeed and for that, you will live."

"T-Thank you!" She bowed.

"Hm," he pressed his lips together as he stared dead ahead to the Captain from afar. "That'll be you, Kuchiki Byakuya. Find our Rukia and let me see who's dead."

###

Again, the same gloomy setting surrounded them but different. Instead of solid ground, there was wet grass and instead of the Rukongai, the group had been taken to a forest patch in the Seireitei.

The wind was no different, only accompanied by loud rustles of the grown trees which surrounded the slight open area in which they stood.

Behind them, the Rukia they knew, the Rukia they remembered prior to her bob cut and Lieutenant promotion slowly walked with the most distant eyes. She was walking forward though her head nor her mind were focused on the direction in which she was walking.

Her shoulders slouched with her eyes transfixed on the thousands of forest green strokes on the ground. She walked past the group who followed her movements.

The life was sucked out of her. There was only one thing that could steal her away from whatever thoughts had her so engrossed in her mind.

They heard that voice just then and as her neck shot up, blinking to adjust to the real world, so did there's.

###

"Rukia…." A chilling whisper touched her ears. Alert, she observed her surroundings. That feeling...she could feel it assemble inside of her. She was uneasy.

As serene whispers came from each direction, the wind pushed the curvy strands of her hair forward as the feeling got stronger. On cue, the hairs on her arms stood straight, a lump formed in her throat as her heart began to beat faster.

He was here…

She shivered. He had found her.

She hadn't expected it to be this soon. Though, she realized that even if it meant searching in the impossible scenario she found herself in, he would do it.

Nonetheless, her nervousness didn't cease. Even if it was bound to happen, she was not the same person to welcome it as an opportunity to fix him. Rather, she felt weaker than ever before.

She was...entirely different. This Rukia was no match for whomever this beast was in front of her. A cunning smirk curved on his lips as he floated above her, trapped in a plum purple murk.

Satisfaction was written all over his face. Amusement, mockery and all that could reinforce how pathetic she looked right now. How weak.

The more she absorbed the scene, the more real it was beginning to feel. He really was here. She was found.

"Kuchiki Rukia, a shinigami." He wheezed right after.

"What have you done?" He asked her. Rukia just stared.

"What?" How amused he was. He tilted his head slightly, "wonder how I found you?"

His grin grew wider. You owe that to your brother-in-la—ah, or should I say your new brother, Kuchiki Byakuya."

He laughed right after as Rukia stared at him lifelessly. She was no longer surprised by life taking her in the opposite way. Eventually, her stare resumed to the grass she had been staring at.

"What?" He craned his next forward. "You're not even gonna amuse me? Did you really think you could run and I wouldn't find you?"

"Thought I'd have more time." She muttered to herself. He heard her but chose to ignore.

"Ridiculous doesn't even begin to explain you. How utterly stupid of you." The gleeful disgust mixed with dry laughter was then replaced with a stone stare. "How's your neck?"

Just like that. His face became cold, the laughter ceased, his neck straightened.

Rukia immediately gasped as her left hand flew to the back of her neck.

"Change the subject." Rukia ordered.

He chuckled, "does it hurt? It should."

Some relief came to her when he went back to the gleeful stare.

"If that's all you have to say, am I free now?"

"Go." He said to her surprise but she wasted no time in taking a step forward before something whipped past her. She snapped her neck to its direction only to be welcomed with pain.

"Argh—" one knee hit the ground—the back of her neck oozed with pain.

"And you're a Kuchiki now…" Rukia heard him say but had nothing to say in return. Even if she did, her neck wouldn't spare her the pain to speak.

Again, he grew serious. "Do you have any idea of what you've done?"

His question reeked with disappointment. "You betrayed me…"

It was a lot quieter and frighteningly very meaningful.

While rubbing the back of her neck, she managed to look up. He was staring at her coldly.

And it went on like that until she stood up properly, never losing his gaze.

"I'm alone." She suddenly voiced. Moments later, she regretted how much her tone made it sound like an invitation. "Set me free."

"For now." He arched his brow though he didn't indicate it to be a question.

"I have nothing to say or nothing to do with you." Rukia continued. "Let me be."

She started to walk but he didn't move, only watched.

It was only until she disappeared into the trees and fog did he voice, "you should've listened to me."

###

"I can only imagine what could have happened to her to end up this way." Captain Ukitake said solemnly.

"There must've been something." Ichigo said while staring into the same direction as Captain Ukitake. "Some battle, some error—something."

"He mentioned something about her neck and by the looks of it, it was still injured here. Could it have been an injury?" Uryū asked.

"Yeah but what kind of injury would result in all this?" Rangiku asked.

"Perhaps she sustained the injury in an interaction with Okasake hence why he asked." Tōshirō said. "It could have led into whatever reason she needed to leave."

"I don't think it matters." Ikkaku asked. "It's not like she couldn't heal herself in a day or two like she did with everything else like her arm."

"Ikkaku's right." Lieutenant Kira said. "Why would an injury hold her back if she could heal herself when her body was ready?"

"Perhaps something got in the way." Tōshirō said. "Whatever altercation she was involved in prior could've been responsible for her decision to leave. The injury was just a part of the process."

"I guess it's odd that he mentioned it." Lieutenant Hisagi said. "I mean—I'm guessing it's probably already well known that she can heal very quickly so what would be the need to point it out?"

"Unless Captain Hitsugaya is right about the injury having some significance even though I don't see how it would be that important considering who she is." Lieutenant Kira said.

"There's definitely something off about him pointing it out." Uryū said. "It might seem a bit overboard however, knowing Kuchiki-san's capabilities, it wouldn't make sense for it to be a concern unless it was permanent or as Captain Hitsugaya said, had a link to the altercation which resulted in her leaving."

"But isn't Kuchiki-san capable of fixing everything she sustains? Eventually, her body would've healed for her." Orihime said.

"That's true, Inoue-san unless it was an injury that was harder for her to heal for some unknown reason." Uryū replied.

"She grew back her arm, I highly doubt some neck pain would be a challenge for her body to heal." Ikkaku said.

"That's true," Yumichika stepped in. "I don't see how that would be much of a problem considering her capabilities. Anything she sustains, she can heal."

"Not everything." Uryū said, which piqued their interests.

"What injury couldn't she heal?" Ichigo asked.

"Well, I wouldn't say it was an injury but it's definitely something we can't overlook considering what she can do." Uryū said. "Remember when the elder Captain Kuchiki mentioned that Kuchiki-san had lots of scratches on the back of her neck because of her attempts to remove her necklace? Why didn't those heal? They're merely scratches from a chain and yet, they're still there. Even the younger Captain Kuchiki saw them when he tried to remove the necklace but I doubt those attempts from Kuchiki-san are recent. By now, I'd assume she fiddles with it but nothing more."

"Are you saying there's exceptions based on what she can heal?" Ichigo asked.

"Maybe or, maybe there's more to it after all. All I know is that the mentioning of her neck injury sounded odd considering her body's healing abilities."

"I mean, the whole thing with the scratches behind her neck makes sense to point out but couldn't it have just been one of those things where you know, you meet up with their arch nemesis and they say 'oh, you look tired' or 'slept well?' or something like that? I dunno because they know they fucked you up pretty badly the last time?" Captain Hirako said.

"I guess." Lieutenant Hisagi said.

"We could be blowing it out of proportion is what you're saying." Rangiku reiterated while facing Captain Hirako.

"Well, yeah I guess. It just sounds like we're reading into it a lot to find an answer. He could've hurt her and wanted to have his 'gotcha' moment since it was still bothering her here." He responded.

Uryū and Ichigo looked at each other just then.

"What do you think, Kurosaki?"

Ichigo thought it over. "Maybe Shinji's got a point. Probably just wanted to remind her that he did it like you said."

"She's done that at the academy before." Momo suddenly said. Everyone looked to her as she thought of it. "There was a time we had a physical exam which she had asked to opt out from due to an injury but when she was examined, they found none so she had to do it on spot as punishment but the moment she tried, she grabbed her neck like that and fell."

Everyone looked at each other soon after.

"I remember that. The whole academy talked about her lying to get out of it. People thought she was faking." Lieutenant Kira said.

"It seems that my suspicion of a battle or a violent altercation isn't too far off after all. It evidently was dire enough to last as long as it did." Tōshirō said.

"Well, whatever he did to her neck then has certainly healed now, hasn't it?" Rangiku asked. "Besides those scratches from her necklace, there really isn't anything else to hold onto."

"She's right. It's a waste of time to think about something that's healed anyways." Ikkaku said.

"Captain Sui-Feng, can you tell us anything about this?" Rangiku asked.

Sui-Feng, with her eyes closed, voiced 'no' quietly though of course, no one believed her until she followed up with more. "I was never told about a neck injury so I would assume it's not important."

Their silence which came shortly after indicated that they all agreed on the subject of her neck injury. Captain Komamura turned to the Head Captain.

"Head Captain, what did you wish for us to see?" He asked but was met with no response.

He only allowed the environment to change so that they were standing in the air in front of a wide, round silver balcony. There were many details to take in but the one which stood out the most were the two figures to the right of them on the edge of it, speaking.

Rukia was there. Minor differences, besides the location, indicated that this was from a much earlier time. In fact, she looked identical to herself now—the assassin uniform, the black gloves, the medium-length hair except the white doctor's coat was replaced with a haori-like garment that was still folded at the sleeves.

She was happy.

###

"It is about time." Ginrei said to her. She looked up at him with a small smile, even if she wanted to hide and pretend she wasn't proud of it all, she'd be unable to.

She released a breath. "What is it?"

Rukia turned to the view. "I just can't believe it, I guess."

"Gureta's stone has not been active in centuries. It is about time the moonstone returned as an active stone."

"Just the thought of it worries me though. Sensei Okasake being the only wielder of it ever since is nerve-wracking, I'll admit." Rukia said. "I wasn't expecting to get a stone."

"Did you think Hirosuke would leave it to anyone else?"

"No, of course not. I didn't even think about it, if I'm being honest. The moonstone to me has always been a forbidden stone, meant to exist to honor Sensei Okasake's legacy." Rukia explained. "Isn't passing it off to me a bit…"

"If you think it is disrespectful, why not say it?" He inquired slowly.

Rukia shook her head immediately, "that sounds more disrespectful to say besides," she sighed. "I'm happy that he would even consider me for it. The thought alone makes me happy but also...scared."

"It is no different than wielding any one of the other stones."

"Maybe so but I can't remove this feeling of worry considering who it once belonged to. Protecting the stone is beyond anything I've ever been given or tasked with. It's beyond the responsibilities I've accepted and am looking forward too."

"But it is also an honor that you should accept." Rukia turned to him. "Gureta would not have agreed to have the stone passed onto someone incapable. You have already proved your compatibility with the stone. You should not doubt the qualities you have exhibited since you were a child."

"Easy to say, but you should also remember who you're talking to." Rukia teased with a smile.

"Indeed." He agreed. "That character trait of yours still manages to arise even on the eve of an event such as this."

"I'm helpless, I guess you can say." Rukia said as she folded her arms above the bar of the railing. She looked down to watch the people below. "It's crazy. I see the stares and I feel worried all over again."

"That paramount of fear will vanish the moment you take your position."

She looked to the side of his face again. "And how can you be so sure?"

"It is in your nature to exacerbate your own self-doubt in the midst of an event like this. It is bound to disappear as it has many times before."

Rukia looked back down to the crowd below. "So you tell me, Captain but that won't change how indebted I am to all of you for this opportunity. The fear is bound to me—I feel like I may never get it to truly disappear. I owe you all," her eyes fell back to him, "a lot."

"We do not ask anything of you."

"I know but still. You can't deny how heavy this must feel. This is the moment we were all waiting for."

"And it is here but not without dedication and without you. Hirosuke and I merely nurtured you, that is all."

"I wouldn't want you to abstain from taking responsibility on the eve of an event like this." Rukia said with a wider smile. He looked down at her as if he was studying her.

"What?" Rukia asked.

"You are not getting married tomorrow."

Rukia gave him a bizarre look, "what?! Why would you think that?"

"You are acting as if Hirosuke and I are giving you away."

Rukia shook her head. "Maybe not to a person but you both are giving me away to more responsibilities."

"Which you were prepared for."

"I suppose. And they are...responsibilities I'm a bit proud of but being given the moonstone is just..." She looked at her left hand covered partially by her black glove. "It just feels very unreal—it makes me wonder what it would've been like if Sensei was here to see it happen."

"Hiroshima."

"Hm," Rukia nodded her head. "I wonder about him too often these days. I suppose tomorrow will be even worse."

"Do not let the last moments of his life sway you from thinking otherwise." Ginrei advised her. "It is the equivalent of allowing it in."

"You're right—I'm sorry." Rukia said. "I should be thinking of—"

"How your efforts over the years are being rewarded with a great honor which Gureta would have approved of." Ginrei said to her.

"Of both things?" Rukia asked.

"Of many things. Perhaps now is the time to reflect on those who had faith in you from the start."

"Hmph, they keep giving gifts but I don't know what to do with it all. If I had it my way I would refuse. It's all too much for me." Rukia said. Despite her gratitude, she felt so undeserving of it all. Thoughts of handing it all off to people in the Rukongai crossed her mind many times.

"I would like to see you deny the gathering we will hold for you tomorrow."

A look of concern donned her face. "Captain..."

"You are without a choice."

She looked almost disappointed. "Considering what's happening tomorrow I would've thought I did."

"If I presented you with a second option I doubt you would take it."

She released the hold she had on his sleeve. "And how do you know that? Tell me."

"You are not allowed to know what until your decision is made."

"Why do all your propositions come with this weird catch?"

"There are no easy routes in decision-making."

"It's not like you haven't given me the easy way out before." Rukia argued.

"That was when you were younger. After tomorrow, there will be no easy routes."

Rukia hated that it was true—she also hated that she agreed.

"Fine,"

In defeat, she caved in. "I'll take the second one. Any option would be better than the first. You've both given me enough."

"There it is." Ginrei said while staring down at her. Rukia blinked in confusion a couple of times before following his eyes to see it herself.

Instant regret washed over her face the moment she got ahold of the little gem. "Captain!"

"You made your choice."

"Y-Yeah but—" she looked down at the stone once more before fumbling with the chain. "I can't take this. You know this, I can't take anything I know isn't my worth."

"It is yours now. The moonstone is without a physical form. This would be an indication of your ownership."

Rukia shook her head instantaneously. She moved her fingers to the back of her neck to unclasp the chain but was met with a shock. Her body jolted in reaction to it before she looked to her hands and then to him.

"What did you do?" She asked in a wary tone.

"We were all made to give you a gift in honor of tomorrow. You had a choice, that is why you received many early gifts from before." His eyes slightly gestured to her right pocket but Rukia chose to ignore it.

"You didn't answer my question." Rukia said—she tried again but was met with another shock. "Why can't I take it off?"

"You did not think I would make it you-proof." He said in an observational tone.

Rukia opened her mouth at a loss of words. "Captain...what did you..how did you...how do I take it off?"

"You are unable too."

"That isn't an answer."

"I cannot give an answer to a question where there is none."

"Who did it for you?" She asked as she tried it over and over again but was met with defiance from the chains each time.

She was stuck. "Adachi?"

He didn't answer her this time. Rukia grew impatient with it. "I can't wear this—you know this. This probably cost a fortune."

"I suppose you do now."

"Captain!" Rukia exclaimed with her two hands on the chain. "This is different from accepting gloves and heirlooms. this alone could feed the entirety of the Rukongai."

"That is most likely true."

She gasped in disapproval before he turned to her fully.

"Until tomorrow."

Rukia, clearly confused, didn't realize that he was saying his farewell to leave until his image blurred as flash-step was activated.

"Hey—" Rukia chased after him in an instant, activating flash-step as she spoke, "come back!"

###

"We're in the Capital?" Ikkaku asked, still observing their surroundings. He could see nothing except the fog and clouds. "Doesn't look like much to me."

"It's the fog, you dumbass." Ichigo said.

"This is the moonstone quarters, directly above one of the main hall's corridors." Sui-Feng, surprisingly, explained.

"Is this her ward or 'home' should I say?" Lieutenant Kira said.

"I'm not aware of that information." Sui-Feng responded.

"This was the day before she got her position as protector of the moonstone." Rangiku reminded. "This could've been her home after her promotion."

"Seems like she wasn't really expecting it though." Lieutenant Hisagi said. "The moonstone I mean—to become its protector."

"I can see why she may have been surprised to know Hiro-sensei selected her. As Ginrei-dono mentioned, she harbours a lot of self-doubt." Captain Ukitake said.

"Her position as the protector was celebrated quite a lot if she was receiving gifts and festivals, don't you think, Kurosaki?"

"They must've loved Nee-san so much for taking on so much to protect them!." Kon said with sparkling eyes.

"That doesn't sound overboard to you?" Kensei asked.

"Why?" Captain Hirako. "You heard him, the stone wasn't active for centuries. I can see their hype about it—those stones mean a lot here, just like the Okasake family."

"She wasn't a regular protector here. Having the key to his birthright plus getting Okasake Gureta's stone is a whole lot of responsibility." Ichigo said. "It's obvious they thought she was capable enough and trusted her."

"But what about that other Sensei Okasake? The one she mentioned. It seemed like she thought he would be displeased." Rangiku pointed out.

"Matsumoto raises a good point. Why did she think that? Both Okasakes were fond of her. What could have happened prior to his death to make her think otherwise?" Tōshirō asked.

"Ginrei-dono asked her to not worry of the events which occurred before his death and I think I may know why." Captain Ukitake said.

"What's up, Ukitake?" Ichigo asked.

"Shima-sensei's relationship with Okasake Jūshirmai was very intimate and obsessive."

"What's that gotta do with Rukia and the moonstone?" Ichigo asked.

"Without a doubt he diligently listened to every word his son said therefore, it was easy for Head Commander Okasake to turn on people when he, being his son, wanted him too. It made it easier for him to access the heart and contribute to its darkness." Captain Unohana explained.

"You think he turned him against Rukia before his death?" Ichigo said.

"Perhaps to weaken her confidence, Kurosaki." Uryū said. "Okasake Jūshirmai excels in mind games—his playing cards are all emotional and mental. To weaken Kuchiki-san's connection to Sensei Okasake's heart, I'm sure he would try anything to have her implement doubt in their relationship even if she knows it might be just a part of Jūshirmai's tricks."

"You're right, it simply could have been his ploy to weaken that connection though, it seems like Kuchiki would not allow it to work on her even though she was a bit doubtful." Tōshirō said.

"Doesn't that mean that Okasake Jūshirmai was trying to get rid of Nee-san's connection to the heart all the time then? He wouldn't just wait for his death, right?" Kon asked.

"Kon's right. Who knows? Maybe he was trying to weaken their connection from the start but couldn't get rid of Rukia's hold on the heart." Ichigo said. "Having him disapprove of Rukia shortly before his death was probably his final attempt to remove her influence for good but it failed."

"The elder Kuchiki seemed adamant to believe that Okasake had returned when Okasake's citrine stone had burnt Hell." Tōshirō reminded them. "Perhaps because it gives Okasake another chance to use his father to his advantage though I don't think Kuchiki would easily be that swayed considering how aware she is of Okasake's manipulation skills."

"Ginrei-dono was most likely just being precautious. In Kuchiki's current state, I fear she is more susceptible than ever to implement more darkness into the heart than to sever her connection. If in any case Shima-sensei was to return, the probability of the latter would increase."

"Would it really be that easy?" Orihime asked. "For Kuchiki-san to lose her connection to the heart if Sensei Okasake was to lose favor with her? Or maybe even try to remove her connection with the heart?"

Everyone paused before a meek voice spoke to fill the silence. "It would not."

It came from Captain Sui-Feng. Everyone turned their attention to her.

"Is it 'cause of her bond with a Sensei Okasake? 'Cause by the looks of it, that can easily be manipulated under Okasake Jūshirmai's influence if he was to return." Lieutenant Kira said.

"It's more than that." Captain Sui-Feng responded.

"It's more than what? Captain Sui-Feng, speak up." Rangiku said but the smaller Captain remained mute.

"Fuck this, you're no different than the traitor herself." Kensei said.

"Why can't you tell us?" Momo asked her.

"It's ridiculous how you were questioning our loyalty before when you're unable to speak on such critical information that is necessary for us to know now." Tōshirō said.

Captain Komamura, once again, spun around to question the Head Captain who kept his eyes closed. "What is the nature of Lieutenant Kuchiki's relationship with the Soul King's heart? Can it easily be broken?"

The Head Captain remained silent again, only allowing the environment to change again to move forward and have the group follow.

They were now on grass. The sunshine bathing everything in a glittering yellow, the sky so blue and clear.

In front of them, young noble heirs and their families stood on a cobblestone floor. The Gotei 13 anxiously observed their surroundings to identify what they were supposed to be seeing until they spotted a familiar younger girl and two older figures in front of her from a distance.

The annual noble heir gathering.

"I will tell you the truth…" the Head Captain finally spoke.

###

"I really can't do this." A young Rukia hissed behind them. "They'll see right through me."

She was donned in the short sleeve version of her assassin uniform, long black gloves ran up to her shoulders.

"It is one picture." Ginrei said.

"Y-Yeah but I'm not—"

"What will they see?" Hirosuke asked her.

"What do you mean?" Rukia asked him. "I'm from the Rukongai. They'll see it in a second that I'm not like them. Having me here in a noble picture would be...would be…"

She tried to find the right word. "Scandalous."

"Scandalous?" Sensei repeated as they stepped onto the cobblestone floor where the line of young noble heirs were already set up.

She approached the spot where Jūshirmai was at, trying to calm the nervous feeling which swarmed in her belly. When she did, the Captain swiftly passed by the Lieutenant behind her.

"My dear thinks that her presence in this photo is scandalous. Do help her." She heard him say.

Rukia turned to him with a faint sneer before her eyes met the appalled Lieutenant.

Captain Ukitake drew in a sharp breath as he watched the interaction unfold with the Gotei 13 beside him. He too felt nervous at the first sight of it.

"Scandalous?" She had no idea how he didn't find that appropriate. "If anything is scandalous, it is the presence of," he looked somewhere above her head. "That thing over there, not you."

Jūshirmai.

Rukia sighed. "I would hope."

She turned around and saw Jūshirmai give her a disapproving look though she didn't care.

Ichigo drew in a sharp breath as a boy, a little taller than her, appeared beside her to her right with a ponytail. They didn't glance at each other once.

The photo flashes began.

"...about Kuchiki Rukia."

"Terrible, terrible." The elderly woman shook her head vigorously. "To sin at a time like this."

The woman the Gotei 13 had seen snarling and passionately lecturing a class of students had been Minister Asa Cornel. The class of students were a part of her religious keep, an anti-reaper club which hailed from her very own book.

Slay the Eye of the Soul Reaper. A best-seller. Responsible for the superstition which seemed to roam the court and parts of the Rukongai. The only guide which existed to lead a life of purity.

Spawns were shinigami. Spawns were anyone who got entangled with the shinigami.

She loathed the thought of assassin-shinigami. She rarely spent time on the land where the noble houses ran and rested in here, a room of brocade scarlet and metallic gold wallpaper, a large emerald cut into a rectangle above her desk of chestnut wood.

The size of it was huge. A gift she treasured from the Li family who, though did not become the keeper of the Seavens' stone, were the family who discovered it and thus had a beguiling ream of emerald bedecked in everything.

It was their representative jewel despite the family name also being attached to the lapis lazuli of the fourth.

The lady had a keen eye for jewels. Fortunately, in her position, she was revered by almost everyone despite her strict teachings and suffocating aura.

Noble families gifted her all kinds of luxuries. It was as if she was the God she often spoke of, being offered all the things to return the favor by assuring that everyone was good and out of the shadows' way..

Her words were taken seriously. Many didn't have much of a choice as the woman was humorless. A permanent scowl chiseled on her lips and the scariest round eyes.

For some reason, it made everyone feel secured. To add onto her assuring, disciplinary demeanour, she was also one of the closest relatives to the 'God' she spoke of. It made her purely presumptuous words become credible, if not without doubt, entirely real.

She was Sensei Okasake's sister-in-law. Her sister, younger than her by two years, Sensei Cho had married Okasake Hirosuke.

Her maiden name, Cho Cornel was changed to Asa Cornel after her own marriage. Shedding her of an irritable nickname she endured in her youth, 'CC'.

Her relation was crucial. She took care of him once he got old, believing that the maids were insufficient and that his personality was too lenient at times.

It only gave her followers more rave for her words and knowledge.

Which, in numbers, was a small group in comparison to the population of the Soul Society. Though her teachings were still very embedded in life in the court and her character glorified.

She abstained from sin and vilified anyone who engaged with sins against the list of virtues she penned herself. There were only a few people she saw as the utmost depiction of purity and divinity.

One, including her grandniece.

She had always been very pure. Obedient but very defiant in her own right. She knew what she wanted and chased after it with grit and steel. A justice seeker and dedicated, Cornel always believed that she had been the Okasake clan's luckiest strike.

To find someone as rare and proud of herself. Diligent and kind but also stiff when she needed to be. A Rukongai-er turned noble and she handled it with zeal.

She was also blessed with looks. The entirety of her being simply excluded the very righteousness she vouched for and thus made her a holy mark, just as much as her 'grandfather'.

Cornel did not bother with why or how she disappeared. The Woman of the White Haze was just another story she could use to reinforce the power of divinity for now, she had learned her grandniece was back and alive. She was now another example of how adhering the virtues would result in great things. Even more greater if you were as holy yourself.

She hoped she would return soon. Not just to her but the others too. To see...what divinity was truly like.

Rukia saw herself on Velmar cliff. Everything about her body felt worn. Her sobs burnt her chest, snot ran down her nose, the rain water only made her face more wet.

At times, the pain would be unbearable. It would be too much and her eyes would squeeze tightly, legs surrendering to the ground. Then, she'd get up again and walk into the unknown.

Nothing hurt more than the moment her body mirrored the pain. She was seeing it but also feeling it on her own. Thrusting her into that level of despair was dangerous though Jūshirmai knew well of what he was doing.

In order to bring out her darkness, she had to relive the moment which gave birth to it.

Unfortunately, she couldn't let that part get ahold of her again so she had woken up. Her eyes remained red, the skin beneath it remained dark and tired. She sat up and braced against the head of the bed, motionless. The residual pain from the vision was still stuck in her head and her body.

With it alive, an uncontrollable force scorched through her. She was nearing the edge of the border, at that moment, she kicked off the silk sheets and went into the bathroom—slamming it shut and facing herself in the mirror of the bathroom.

Her hands pressed against the edges of the white sink with her head bowed to it.

She couldn't look at herself for a lengthy five minutes. But when she did, the darkness came to her eyes. Her breathing was heavy, she stared at herself as if she was the most revolting thing but also, the most frail.

With tousled dark hair, violet eyes nearing black, and a gossamer silk slip, the shade of ink, the brightest aspect of her right now was her skin and the iridescent moonstone on her neck.

"Do it." She ordered grimly. She channeled all the connective energy before sternly ordered, "give me the mark."

She slammed her fist against the sink, taking the quick seconds of silence as refusal.

"Do it…" she ordered again. "Stop sparing me like I'm a kid."

Commanding the pure light to cut her like it had done him was going to be difficult, she knew. It would never cut her, it would never give that sort of sign.

"Do it now," her voice cracked. "You don't get to decide what you can and can't do to me. Get it done."

Jūshirmai had purposely left her without the physical sai blade containing the pure light. The connection alone would be enough and yet, it wouldn't do it.

She paused. "Do it!"

Her mouth tore wide to shout, "I said cut me!"

Rukia took a step back from the sink, studying herself as if she was repulsed.

"Why won't you do it?" She questioned quietly. "Is it something I did?"

Silence and then, "what did I do wrong? Why can't you cut me? Where's my mistake?"

In madness, she took some perfumes stacked in the bathroom and threw it against the mirror. "Do it!"

"C'mon, I know you can—" she threw another, "my brother needs help!"

"Set me free! Let me free!" She screamed as all the perfumes crushed against the glass except one which cracked the mirror.

Frantically, she pulled herself towards the mirror. "You see here? Yes, right here, cut me! Give me a sign of consciousness too! Stop treating me differently! Give me the sign!"

Rukia knocked the glass harder, shards came dripping out. "Do it! What's keeping you?! I am begging you, give me the sign. I need you to set me free."

She pulled off the entire tap and water came spurting out. Then, she broke the towel rings and bars before tossing them to the shattered mirror. Soap and lotion stained it, leaving a single circled spot as the only reflection. Aquamarine towels were messily left on the ground that she eventually started throwing herself.

Racks were broken like twigs, fractured bottles of glass from clear to colour were left like minerals on the ground. Rukia panted heavily, unsatisfied with the mess she made. It wasn't enough, she needed the pure light to hear her pleas.

"Why won't you do it?!" She screamed at the mirror. "Do it!"

"—Stop!" She pounded the mirror once. "—with!" Twice. "—the!" Thrice. "—special treatment!" She knocked it five times.

Don't protect me...Just don't.

"I'm tired," she wailed. "I don't need it! Just get rid of it! Treat me like the sin I am! Do it! Do it now!"

Her eye then caught ahold of a brow tweezer. She grabbed it. "Here, look. I have something sharp. Now, do it to me. It's right here, c'mon, do it."

"What's keeping you?!" She snapped. "Do it! Please, just do it!"

She rammed her face into the broken mirror. "Look into my eyes. The darkness is here, the darkness is here so," she tilted her head, "DO...IT. What is keeping you?! Please! You have no right to decide! That's for me to decide! Me."

"So cut me!" Impatience stole her from sanity. "Do it!"

Nothing. Only silence remained in the room, she felt no ounce of involuntary movement from her fingers to cut her skin.

With a heavy chest, she dropped the tweezers. Almost in a weep, she quietly questioned it while staring at her reflection.

"Why won't you cut me?" It came out so meek. "Why won't you set me free?"

Past

They were thrusted into darkness before they were brought back to the grey district once again.

This time it was busy. They were in an enclosed space with intersections, they stood in one right now though of course, no one could see them. Noise from sellers riveted the area while the drained sat on the ground, practically begging with their sagged eyes for life.

Dirt painted all of them. The only ones abstaining from any noticeable filth as dark as mud were the sellers who seemed to be the only ones who bathed. Though that wasn't true. The whole Rukongai did but becoming dirty in a place like this was inevitable.

The Head Captain stood to Ichigo's right. He didn't say anything though like a force within them, they all twisted to the left of a new path.

Standing in the middle of the narrow intersection didn't help with all the people hustling through though eventually, they stopped blocking the way.

The path was clearer now. People lined up against the walls with very few coming through. Some with saddles, some with crates, and some with nothing but a force pushing them to move forward.

To the left, there were two piles of hay. It seemed really randomly allocated though all the streets of the Rukongai were messy like this. When someone came and added more, Ichigo realized that it was normal.

He didn't know what specifically they were supposed to be looking at. Everything looked pretty normal to him so he tried to peek at anything abnormal. Something they were supposed to be seeing.

Just then, he spotted something odd. There were two pairs of feet sticking out of the hay, the people belonging to it seemed to be buried under or at least, he hoped.

A minute went by and then a cough was heard, it seemed the background noises had dulled for them to hear it since they were at a distance.

A few straws of hay puffed up and then, the person belonging to the first pair of feet rose up. Their kimono was warm tan, an obi the colour of cinnamon. Her hair was curved upwards at the tips and several fringes framed the young girl's face.

Ichigo and Byakuya recognized who it was instantly. Ichigo's stomach dropped as soon as he saw her.

###

When the young girl rose, confusion swamped her. The image in front of her was fuzzy then somewhat visible to clear. A sharp ache billowed through her brain though it quickly vanished and left her to identify the things around her.

She recognized that she was laying on something prickly and there was something heavy resting on her chest. Everything came slowly to her as she was still lost, trying to remember anything to justify why she was where she was.

She sat up straighter and wandered with her eyes, spotting broken wood running in front of her—belonging to a large cabin, people with shredded or dirty clothes, a rough grey ground with a bunch of pebbles and stones.

Where was she?

She looked to her chest and spotted an infant child she almost dropped. With a quick gasp, she scooped it up and held it near her chest securely—uncertain of how it got there. Was it hers? But no, she was too young.

Then who...she tried to remember and found that she knew nothing. Even about herself. It was like her mind was empty, only able to identify what was in front of her now and nothing else.

With brighter eyes, she tried to identify anybody that she knew. Anything that could make her understand why she was where she was.

Suddenly, an elderly woman with an eagle nose and a scar cutting through her left eye, from her perspective, rammed into her face—it caught her by surprise.

She rarely had teeth and wrinkles defined her lips as dry as firewood.

"Ah, you must be one of the new ones." She said with fascinated eyes. With her mouth opening, she caught a lemon candy dancing on her tongue.

The young girl crimped her forehead. "New ones? What do you mean? Where am I?"

She chuckled, "you're dead, girl. This is the afterlife."

The young girl reflected on her words. "What?"

"It's natural to be confused though with time, you'll get it. Though, what poor luck you must have to end up here."

"I'm sorry, I still don't get what you mean. How can I be dead?"

"As I said, you'll get it soon. What's important is that you get your name and birthdate of you and your sister from those tellers (AN: Rarity Fades into Nothingness) before it gets too late and they can't tell you."

"What?" The young girl looked at the infant. "Sister?"

"Hmm." The old lady drew back. "Or maybe it's a boy. Let me check."

"No, no, no," the young girl rushed up and stood. "Um, where might I find one? I need to know what happened to me."

"Well, I already told you. You're dead. You and your sister or brother died and came here from the human world."

Though she still didn't believe her, she asked. "And what is this place?"

"The afterlife or what I like to call it, Hell with nice gift wrapping paper. It all comes down to luck here on how you live. The Soul Society's what they call it. There's no eternal nirvana like the human world often likes to talk about after death, it all depends on your luck. Doesn't matter whether you've sinned or not."

"The Soul Society?" The young girl repeated.

"Yes, and this is called the Rukongai, specifically the 78th District. One of the poorest ones, that's what I meant about your luck. You won't get by here easily, you'll suffer until the day you die."

The young girl felt a bit nervous after hearing her tone but chose to ignore it. "A-And the teller?"

"There's plenty, don't worry. You still have a lot of time. By the looks of it, your soul came down here last night. Though unfortunately, lines may be long at this time of the day. You'll find them once you exit out of this path and turn left. Go further down and there'll be an opening with houses forming an arch. To the left of that, you'll see them braced against the houses and the lines. Get behind one and don't move."

She nodded her head firmly though felt herself become dizzy shortly after, the path became all fuzzy again. When she took her first step, she stumbled.

"Is it natural to be like this?" The young girl asked the woman. The whole idea of her being dead sounded ridiculous though, the more her memory refused to give any answers which could challenge the woman, the more she settled with it.

"Yes but not for long. You better hope that comes out of you soon or else you'll perish here, girl."

The young girl shot her an unknowing glance. "Would you help me?"

"No one helps anyone here, girl. Not even adults, you're on your own till the day you die. Only the smart, lucky, and strong live—the rest die. You should line up now and have the teller tell you what you need to know. From there, your life and that child's life depends on you."

She backed away and left. The young girl could only stare at her with a head which was starting to ache again. She forced herself to push forward and follow the path with the baby held close to her chest.

###

Ichigo drew in a breath. The moment Hisana walked away and down that path, the next part came. The moment it did, his insides felt weak and only grew emptier when he caught a clear glimpse.

A little after Hisana left, the last pair of feet Ichigo had seen, woke up. She pushed off the straws of hay and looked around—at loss of where she was.

Ichigo looked at Byakuya. He was staring at him too. This was what had happened. This was what went wrong. The sorrow he felt now was incomprehensible. A little mistake led to them never meeting, to the confusion, to Hisana's last wish being this—for a baby that wasn't hers.

The young Rukia was just as bruised as Hisana had been though, unlike her sister, she still wore a black cardigan with a button at the neckline. After being informed of where she was and offering her bit of doubt to the new woman who explained, she picked up a branch from the ground nearby to use as a walking stick and trekked on to the exact same spot.

It took one mistake like this for them to be separated. What was even worse was that they were headed towards the same area and still...it never happened.

They didn't need to trek behind Rukia as the environment changed to be at the arch with the tellers. They stood next to one of them as their next customer came through with a baby. Ichigo assumed time had been sped up to show that.

"H-Hi, um...I just need to know for me and my sister." Hisana said weakly.

The teller cloaked in black took one glance at her and read it off. "Your name's Hisana, you were born on May 21st. As for the infant, her name is Miduro and she was born June 5th."

Ichigo's eyes trembled. It was the wrong child, it had been wrong from the start. Hisana had abandoned a baby that wasn't her responsibility at all, Hisana had been searching for a baby that had never been her sister from the start.

Again, he looked at Byakuya and found that he was looking back at him too. How could things go so wrong?

Then, a few persons after, Rukia came just as lost. Again, it pinched his heart. One simple mistake...

The teller suddenly snapped. "Weren't you just here a second ago?"

Rukia, obviously confused, fluttered her eyes. "Huh? No, I just came—I mean, I just woke up. Sorry, could you tell me my name?"

"I already did!" She exclaimed. "Do you think you can stand here and waste my time like this all day?"

"What?" Rukia asked while Ichigo scowled. It took the woman a second, she was being dramatic. "I'm sorry but I wasn't here. I don't know what you're talking ab—"

"Take her out!" The teller ordered loudly. Out of nowhere, people he assumed were guards grabbed her by the arms.

"Wait." Rukia said. "I wasn't here, what are you doing?"

The pair of guards didn't listen and tossed her by the arm to the same path she came from.

Rukia argued till the last minute but the guards walked off. She dusted herself off and stood while limping on her stick. She had some scratches on her cheeks now which obviously stung her. She turned back but didn't move.

Ichigo assumed she gave up on having to wait all over again in a different line.

Then, he remembered. The ally of Jūshirmai. The sovereign of the spider species. The younger Rukia in present time had disclosed that she had been the one to tell her the stuff the teller never told her (AN: Rarity Fades into Nothingness).

After hobbling a bit, Rukia stopped when a woman appeared to the left of her. Ichigo knew it had to be her immediately. Cloaked in all black with a lace veil shielding her face and scarlet eyes, it had to be.

"I'll tell you your name." She said to Rukia. Her tone sounded uncaring, as if she was held at gunpoint to say it.

Rukia looked at her guardedly. "You're one of the tellers?"

The woman made a sound in response.

"Oh…" Rukia turned to her fully. "So...what is—"

"Your name is Rukia."

"Rukia?"

"You were born on January 14th, 5:25am." Ichigo gritted his teeth at her precise response.

"Thank you though um, how'd I die?"

"I can't tell you that." She said harshly. "Goodbye."

And just like that, she stalked off.

Ichigo and Byakuya found themselves staring at each other all over again.

Present

"I don't care for your screed, boy." Cornel continued to walk in annoyance. "Instead of vouching for her, you should be worried about what punishment your father will give you. Useless."

The hall was nearly empty, the chaos outside had occupied many and yet the 6th Division Major had journeyed all the way here, outside her office, and waited to berate her with the sinner.

She continued to walk with the folder loosely in her hand as the Major followed.

"It doesn't make sense to keep her imprisoned now. Not when all of this is happening outside. We need her to run her division, Secretary Ouchi can only handle so much."

Cornel scoffed. "Then the problem's the girl then. She shouldn't be a seated officer if she can't handle doing one simple task. Unless, the sinner didn't teach her well."

"That's not what I'm implying. What's happening outside requires our full force. Even the 13th Division who were banned from involvement were granted permission to participate. We need Ira running hers like everybody else."

"Don't say the sinner's name in my vicinity again or I will cut you, boy. Your father won't mind."

"It wasn't her fault. It was mine, I gave her the key. If I didn't, she wouldn't have even been there." Cornel stopped at his confession, an impressed grin curving on her lips.

"Oh?" She pursued her thin lips to have her wrinkles line up. "You gave her the key? That's not what she said."

"She's protecting me—"

Cornel snickered. "'Protecting you'? Oh, how charming. More sinners, don't any of you have a brain?"

"Minister Asa, please just let her go for now. I'm not saying she shouldn't be charged, I'm sayin—-"

She raised his hand for him to stop. "Now, let me tell you what you're going to do, boy and I will not repeat it again. If we're in a dire situation, it is your responsibility to handle that and any other division that might need you. Instead of graveling about your companion, you should be running her division if it's such a problem. It's out of your hands, this case is mine and if there's any truth to a word you said, you'll bet that I'll have you both punished in the eyes of the Lord for deceiving our values."

When the door of the chambers creaked, Wildfire almost ascended to the skies though it was quickly quashed once she laid eyes on her visitor.

The worst had truly been left to come and now it was here.

Minister Asa.

She wasn't getting out of here without reciting a prayer. She had gone against Minister Asa's written virtues, that alone would keep her locked in here till who knows when.

She might even be sent to the Quarter Sanctuary up south.

The fact that she was even handling this case reinforced that Minister Kuchiki was not going to be lenient with her sentencing. All this for one answer...Wildfire swallowed, preparing for the hateful words the elder was already darting towards her through her eyes.

"Hmph." She observed her with scrutiny. "Sinners do look poorly once they've dawdled with the devil."

"Minister Asa." She bowed before trying to fix herself.

"Oh, don't act poise!" She snapped in irritation once Wildfire's hands moved even a little to smooth out her skirt.

She refracted her hands which had paralyzed in shock at her raised voice.

Minister Asa pressed her lips together and drew a crooked shape. "Now, let's reflect on your sins. To even dream of committing one at a time like this shows carelessness I've never seen. Your division can't even do one task right."

She strided back and forth in front of the cell as she said it.

"It wasn't my intention." Wildfire mumbled.

A surge of rage seemed to course through the elder then as her eyes became bigger and she came near the bars, making her hard and slow stomps known to the ground. "It wasn't your intention?"

"You admitted that it was your intention to steal in the eyes of God and smear our virtues with your filthy," she spat in her face, "disgraceful, actions."

Wildfire had to try and control her expressions for the elder's breath was putrid. And if nothing died in that hole then a combination of milk, garlic, seafood, meat and not brushing for weeks was the cause. Even Rukongai children without proper toothpaste didn't smell like that.

Though her breath was indeed a mystery. With nobility, came sweet smelling high-end perfumes and hair oil which she always had. She was always adorned with jewels of some sort from the large ring she always wore to brooches and tiny clips in her stiff wavy hair.

Her hair being the most important was always neat and tight in its finger waves with the rest being pulled into a low bun. She cared a great deal for her looks to always look so regal and neat so her breath being awful quite literally didn't make sense.

She pulled away from the bars and for that, Wildfire was thankful.

"You trespassed an area not welcome to you or anybody without exclusive permission." Minister Asa relayed. "Intentionally, you went in there with a key you stole from your colleague to find a file that wasn't supposed to be in your possession!"

Wildfire felt every word stab into her skin even before the elder said it with venom.

"God. Sees. Everything." Her finger was up and eyes snarling for her.

"Now, I know you're tempted to make your case though I think I've seen everything I needed to see." Wildfire tightened her grip on the bars. "You're a smear to your division's name! In the eyes of the lord, you're nothing more but filth. "

"Minister As—"

"Don't speak to me unless you've been spoken too. You've lost the right."

Wildfire opened her mouth but quickly shut it.

"I can't see anything suspicious about your case except for one." Her brows raised once. "I'm sure you can tell me what it is. And please, for the sake of our land's purity, save the mendacious behaviour for someone who'll buy it."

Suspicious?

Was she talking about the key? How she stole it? It had to be that. Nothing could get past him like that. It was no surprise that the old woman didn't believe it either.

But, she couldn't get him in trouble. Haru had a reputation for his brilliance and that very reputation was what gave him any kind of likelihood in his family.

She couldn't risk anything like that. She definitely didn't want him to lose favor with the Kuchiki clan either.

Even if the old woman could see right through her like glass, she'd have to lie and endure her omniscient glare.

"In the room," Wildfire started. "The rug was already folded up."

The old lady scoffed and brushed it off.

"Minister Asa—" Wildfire called quickly. "Please listen. The rug was folded up at the corner and that's where I found the file. Someone had already been there before me and it can't be anyone but Sensei Haruyoshi."

She let out a delicate laugh after that. Never had an action looked so inapposite to its purpose. Those mean eyes didn't care for anything she said.

"Oh, how charming!" She proclaimed, those crinkles still stroked upwards near her eyes. "You know everyone who goes in and out of those lairs?"

"I've got a pretty good guess." Wildfire said, she stopped smiling. "The only people with access to the Kuchiki's private lair are the Kuchiki elders, any Kuchiki member born prior to the 28th Head, the Okasake clan excluding you and Chancellor Fujii, and Sensei Haruyoshi and Haru. Which ones more likely? Haru was in the Seireitei, Kuchiki elders haven't stepped foot in the Capital since their departure, all members of the Kuchiki clan born prior to the 28th Head are dead and Minister Kuchiki and Sensei Okasake would never hide something so poorly. Who else is left?"

The heel of her mules made rustling sounds with the pebbles on the ground. In her hand, she held the black key she always carried with a beaded chain ringed around.

She approached the bars slowly. "You better watch your tone, girl."

Her thumb ran over the smooth beads. "I don't think you want to know what happens when you speak so crudely to those protected in the eyes of the lord."

"As for your claim," she moved away, "He's already got an alibi. So who's left?"

"He could be lying." Wildfire presumed boldly. "You know how protective he is of his family's maintenance of the Kuchiki clan's division. If Minister Kuchiki ever found out that he attempted hide anything h—"

"What would he do?" Minister Asa interrupted her. "You said you were a genius, you already know he has permission to be in there. So what's the concern if he moves a little file?"

Wildfire was silent. "The problem is you, not him. That wasn't your place to be and yet you were. That is your sin so I'd quit mumbling about others."

And she didn't know what gave her the nerve to ask but, "what about the file he was hiding? He was trying to hi—"

"My grandniece's case," She licked her lips, sounding all-knowing. "I know. I read my file, I know it well."

"The content doesn't matter, even if he's responsible and that alibi of his is fake, you still hold accountability you stupid girl." She put her whole head into cursing her. "You've deceived in the eyes of the Lord and for that, you'll be punished."

"But what abou—"

"Quit your dissertation, girl! I've had enough of it. I only have to ask one thing more and maybe a second if you answer right." She then leaned close to the bars, her expression cold and eyes locking away her rage temporarily.

"Who gave you the key?" Wildfire forgot the lady's rotten breath momentarily as those devil-like eyes threatened to bore her head.

Past

The young Rukia had gone after her for answers but she was nowhere to be found though Ichigo knew she was still here but they just couldn't see her.

Dumbfounded with her position, she went on trying to find some more information about the world she had come too though almost everyone was unwelcoming.

It gave an insight to what the poorer kids went through. Lost, without instruction, food, reassurance, or familial love.

It seemed that each scene was tailored for a specific group of people. Like the Head Captain was trying to rid the negativity surrounding her character which Ichigo was glad for.

Though, there were a few things which stuck out about her character instantaneously. It was like she was prepped and equipped even without knowing where she'd end up.

In three days, she had learned to steal. Without a trace, she lingered beneath and above the tables and stole what she could. Some of her methods seemed elaborate enough to impress the Rukongai members of the Gotei 13 who hadn't thought of it.

The meals were far from fulfilling. Stale bread, dry vegetables, and if she was lucky, rice.

Regardless she preservered with or without it. Within a few days, it seemed that she understood how to work her way around everything. Suddenly, the day she had come here looking lost felt far away though by time, it had only been six.

The seventh day came and she had relocated to a different street—back braced against a wooden wall belonging to a shed and the smallest piece of bread in her hands with dust all over.

She was crouched down and staring at it. Ichigo realized that she was paler than she had been before. Perhaps she didn't have the energy to steal today and had to rely on only that.

He watched her barely take a crumb off the bread and insert it in her mouth. Savouring it as if it was her last and maybe she was planning to depend on that bread for a while if she was only eating that much.

Then, the woman came. Again, Ichigo watched her sit in front of Rukia. He wondered what she wanted.

###

Though drained, she sensed her the moment she came. It was the teller who had come to sit in front of her. Rukia took a moment to study her.

Perhaps it was ridiculous thinking and it was, but something fuzzing at her fingertips made her want to lift the elaborate lace veil which hid the teller's face. Of course, she didn't but the want was still there.

There were three veils she wore. A lace one with a brocade design and the other which was more like a hood and thick. It hung over her head and cascaded behind her like a mantilla veil. Last but not least, there was the other lace veil of some flower which veiled her entire face front with a bit being cut in the middle to show her lips and a bit of her nose like the first one.

She could see her hair which was black and ran only a bit past her shoulders. Her skin like pearls and the most noticeable feature being those eyes of her which glistened cherry red.

Her dress reminded her of the assassin people she'd come to learn about—down to the last detail but there were some differences. There was hidden lace at some parts and her sleeves which were like drooping kimono sleeves had most definitely been stitched on. The lace sleeves belonged to the actual dress, the sleeves had been poorly stitched.

Rukia wondered what she was doing here but upon sitting, she told her with actions. She opened her mouth and was pointing at it repeatedly. Her first instinct was food but she didn't have any, only this bread.

At first, it didn't make sense to her since she had a job but no job was ever secured in the Rukongai. You missed a day and it was gone, it didn't matter how good you were at doing it, it only mattered if you were there and on time, suspiciously.

She tore a piece of her bread and handed it to her. She took it hungrily and devoured it like wolves with meat. Rukia stared, not liking the insatiable feeling it kindled within her. How hungry she felt right now, it was killing her. She wanted a whole feast to eat and she'd gobble it down like a beast if she could but...she couldn't.

She regretted leaving the street she did, this street was a bit harder to steal from—sellers were sharp and it seemed that Rukongai guards like the ones near the tellers were also here to enforce 'the law' which she didn't think applied to the Rukongai since everyone here seemed to do whatever.

But they did. Not just for tellers but to catch thieves like her and throw them in jail.

Rukia didn't want to get in trouble with them since no one cared about anyone in the Rukongai. It was everyone for themselves here and with a distorted version of justice, she'd probably be stuck in one for the rest of her life for a petty crime like stealing.

So here she was, with a half piece of bread—trying to think of her options as evening was near. She could explore other streets but it took time to understand the patterns of the market and she'd likely wouldn't be able to steal anything without causing a fuss, so she stayed.

The teller in front of her finally finished chewing the bread to its last bits before her saliva had it all minced into a slob in her mouth and she had no choice but to swallow it.

She didn't say a word—strangely, she just stayed with her head down.

Rukia took the initiative to speak, "what happened? Did you lose your job?"

The teller stayed the same as if she was invisible.

"Did you," Rukia raised her hand to touch her but sensed a feeling that maybe she shouldn't. "Get fired?"

Nothing. It was like she hadn't said a word. All of a sudden, the teller pointed to the ground trying to indicate something else that Rukia took guesses on what she meant.

Finally, she got it. "Am I staying here?"

The teller nodded once.

Rukia didn't know why that mattered to her but she said it anyway. "Only for the night. I'm headed elsewhere in the morning."

Once the sentence left her mouth, she regretted it a bit. She shouldn't have been so honest. Though the teller had been nice and gave her an answer, she already knew that forming reliable relationships with adults in the Rukongai was hard.

But what was she going to do with it? She gained nothing from knowing where she was. Maybe for food but even that was harmless. Rukia concluded she was being silly.

She didn't respond to that, she just sat in front of her—eventually leaving as the sun left and the rare clear blue sky became a blanket of gold.

Rukia prepared the rough ground with no blanket or pillow for her bed tonight.

###

The sovereign was like a coin. Double-sided.

Knowing that she was the sovereign of the spider species and knowing that her interest in Rukia ran cold deep, Ichigo didn't trust her.

The sovereign's wickedness was proven moments later.

Once she left Rukia, the environment turned into a meat market and there she was, the sovereign trying to make a trade deal with a teenager. Maybe even a year younger than him.

Beside him, a flabby man who looked a bit older with a beer belly braced against the wall. A few more sat behind on crates, she was asking for meat. A lot of it with no money.

"Look, lady," the lanky guy said. He had a deep voice, one which surprised Ichigo—he looked like a kid. He had one foot stepped onto the table. "If you don't got money, I can't do nothin'. I don't do trade deals anymore, always get betrayed and I ain't trustin' you, so get on with it."

The sovereign remained unphased as shown through her tone. "No more trades? It's a shame you can't hear the offer."

The woman's voice was strong, permanently meant to sound rough and uncaring. She was probably the type who never screeched.

"Lady I've heard a ton of offers n'all of dem' either never lived up or fell through so unless you got a fine gem under that skirt of yours, I ain't giving up anything."

"I have more than a gem, one that sparkles." She sounded bored and frankly, her selling skills were poor. "Much more enticing than what's under here."

"I'm listening."

"You'll find her at the back, the next street from here. Sure it's been awhile, you all look parched."

Ichigo whipped around to find Captain Ukitake. He gave him the same horrified response.

Rukia. She meant Rukia. She was trading her for meat.

Ichigo didn't think he could handle the next events which would unfold.

"I'm not convinced." The guy leaned back before swallowing some beer.

"If you like playing with fire, you'll find that with the gem I offer you, will never have you bored." Again, the deadness in her voice was disenchanting. "I've seen the light. Your call."

The men cluttered behind the table and murmured for a minute.

"Tick, tock." The sovereign said. "You won't have her down so easily."

An almost toothless grin came right after.

Ichigo closed his eyes as the scene went dark.

###

Nightfall came and she huddled her body close together, shutting her eyes tight and imagining she was on a proper bed that was soft.

The cool air peppered goosebumps over her skin. She pulled the cloth of her cardigan tighter and tried to ignore the insects which crept into her nest for hair.

She had heard of there being orphanages around here but she was yet to find one. More importantly, she heard that you were better off being in the streets than in there. For reasons she still didn't know.

She brought her knees to her chest, the hardness of the dry ground with chopped stones made it harder for slumber to hit. It itched her skin and without some warmth, even poison couldn't drag her to sleep.

Fortunately somehow, exhaustion took over her limbs and she did but only for a little while.

When she opened her eyes, they were fuzzy. It took her by surprise that she had fallen asleep and then something mercilessly kicked at her stomach.

Seven kicks which made her body curve into an arch finally woke her up entirely and she could register what was going on around her.

There were men, four or five who surrounded her and were chuckling wickedly. Once that realization came through, she pushed a crummy foot away from her and with some struggle, she sprang up and dashed.

They were quick on their feet. Like hooves, they galloped behind her. She took a sharp right turn at the intersection and headed down towards the next one.

One caught ahold of her arm and yanked her up. She flew upwards and had the chilly night air swarm up her thighs. Rukia forced herself to flip backwards and her thighs ended up brushed against the ears of her assaulter.

With force, Rukia slapped at the back of his head until a final push sent them down and she toppled back from his shoulders.

She prepared herself for a hard hit but she never touched the ground. She was scooped into hairy arms who she struggled against with kicks, punches, and wiggles which agitated him.

When another one of the men came in front of her, she gathered all her saliva and spat in his face. That alone brought disgust to a few of them before she pushed off the face of the man who was holding her and became loose enough to jump and kick him down.

Back on her feet, her heart nervously pounded at the door of her bones and chest as they all scrambled to get ahold of her again. Despite the lack of nutrition, she still had the energy to trip and kick.

The men bit at her legs and face though her nails were long enough to cut and scratch them, her spit was enough to have them lean back from her, and the energy she still had burning from somewhere was unstoppable.

A glass bottle of emerald green thrashed against her skin and had blood drip from the bottom of her legs. They tossed her in the glass pile and continued to kick at her.

"Argh!" Rukia winced at the burning sensation coming from her legs. She began throwing the pieces of glass up at them but then stopped once they seized and pinned her hands.

The lanky one had his finger trace the side of her cheek and she bit at it until it bled. It didn't matter the hitting she endured, she was getting out.

When he pulled back his finger, she kicked his jaw—so powerful, teeth sped out and his chin became red.

The others tried to hover over her though her kicks were hard.

One had been enough to knock one of them unconscious. Only a few more were needed until they were all under darkness' spell. She did it immediately and had their heads flying until it was over.

In the dead of night, Rukia panted and looked at her scraped knee and bleeding wound. Distracted by the thin flesh outlining the cuts, she didn't notice the chubby man charging at her until the last minute.

Unsure of what to do, she went for his stomach. Her small hands sunk into his belly and suddenly, she realized she was holding him over her. With this advantage, she threw him further away and he hit a pile of bricks.

With all of the men down, Rukia took some time to think. Noticing a sliding door beside her, she yanked it open and dragged them all into it. When she came out, she used a thick stick to jam the door handles.

Attempting to run, there was an even larger man in front of her she didn't expect but nonetheless, her feet were somewhat prepared. She used his stomach as her stepping stone and then his shoulders to kick him down—using his head to have her leap onto the roof.

She wrapped her leg with a rag she found up there and headed off—jumping roof to roof until she was safe and away.

The same thing would happen a few days later.

###

Again, they were behind her.

It seemed that they belonged to some gang 'cause this time they were stronger. There were more of them and frankly, the newer ones were fast and could possibly out run her.

She did her best to sprint but her foot stumbled once it pounded onto something sharp and she fell. That's when they caught her.

Rukia screamed though it was only once. She wanted to save the energy she had for action instead of words. In the end, no one would help her—she could only help herself.

Scrambling on her feet, she slipped through a pair of them and went on. Blood oozed from her feet, the injury slowed her down, it had her wincing as she hopped and tried to open a nearby door to hide.

Moonlight lit the many streets she ran through. Cold wind ripped past her skin, she trembled against its touch. It had her teeth chattering and arms unable to hold the reaction in.

Clouds escaped her mouth as she scanned the area in a circle, unsure of where to hide, where to slip through. She could only rely on her own speed and strength to get past them.

She sensed a person ahead of her and dashed down the path to the left of her before they could spot her. But just then, the luck which had brought her to this poor district was summoned again and she found herself staring into multiple pairs of vicious eyes.

They were angry.

Too many knocks to the forehead by someone her size had been the final straw, enough to crack and unleash the worse. Though intimidated, she had to tell herself it would be alright though realistically she knew, there was no way out.

The very fact chilled her bones and suddenly she became an immovable object—bound to the ground.

Of course there were sticks in their hands, some thick, some thin, it didn't matter anyway—all were going to hurt when used with the pressure of those hands.

A fire ran through her and melted whatever chill had immobilized her and she stepped back to bolt but it was too late. A stick went to her tummy and back, her foot's cut bled like plums after a cut and her stained face gained more cuts to add to the collection.

She fell on her belly, in the same direction she had planned on running towards, the taste of sand rested on her tongue.

Most of the dust rose into the air as she was hit many times, enough to have her lips bleeding, a coppery taste countering the dryness of sand in her mouth.

Like a candle set in the wind, her consciousness was threatening to smother any minute from now. The energy had been beaten out of her. But then she couldn't bear to think of what would happen when it did.

She had to fight a bit harder. Her arm stretched out, nails digging into the dirt in an attempt to pull herself forward though one of the men stomped on her hand.

But that didn't stop her from trying to pull herself further.

"Where do you think you're goin'?" She didn't need to look up to see the toothy grin.

She withered to get her hand loose from under his feet, eventually she ceased struggling and became still. The men took it as a victory following her surrender. Nonetheless, she hadn't entirely given up. She was just waiting for some energy to replenish some life within her.

And once it did, the speed of her feet could counter any speed, even that of light. She sprung up, her feet leaping so quick she couldn't stop.

They couldn't catch her. And if they did, it would only be one of them who would sprint just as fast.

She took a sharp left turn and just then, her previous thought came into fruition. She was yanked back, her feet slid against the ground and her neck shot up to look at the face of him but then, she saw something else.

A branch stuck into a door. It had hooked onto her cardigan which she tore off as she had no choice but to break free. Her only source of warmth was now gone.

Rukia needed to put an end to this chase now.

She thought of her options. Somehow she needed to knock them all unconscious and then, she would move to the furthest market. But not without a punishment of her own.

###

Ropes tied from wood to ground were ready to trigger a ream of rocks and knives—doors being another trigger to drop the men Ichigo watched dangle atop a blaring fire had all been done in a flash.

She looked beaten. Her nose and forehead were bleeding, there were numerous cuts on her face, arms and legs, black and blue bruises could easily be seen running up to her thighs. They had beaten her to a pulp and yet, even with injuries, she had persevered and returned to the same shed she had locked them in days before. There, she had conspired and used all her resources to do something.

Acting as the bait she was, she lured them in and with bricks knocked them clean out. Ropes slithered around them and had them hoisted over a fire she started. If the furthest door opened, they would drop in and if the nearest door opened, a large woven basket she had piled bricks in would unleash on their heads.

The nearest tables were embedded with traps. The walls had overturned nails pinned to it.

Rukia stared at the sweaty men who went red with the heat. They did their pleads and apologies though she didn't budge.

"P-Please!" The beer belly guy was beyond frightful. "I have a daughter and three kids!"

"You all run a meat shop." Rukia replied in response. "You have no family, I checked. Each one of you is all you've got."

No response came after. "So, whadaya want from me? I doubt that your pride was enough to come searching for me just 'cause you got kicked a couple of times and got some bruises so what's up?"

The beer belly man's lips trembled fervently until in a teary outburst, he confessed. "You were sold to us! You're our property now! To sell!"

Rukia grimaced. "Do I look like I come with a price tag to you?"

"Hey, don't blame us." The man with no front teeth thanks to Rukia said. "Blame whomever sold ya. Knew where you were gonna be n'everything."

"And who would that be?"

One of the men whispered to the other. "We weren't supposed to tell her."

"I don't care!" He snapped back. "We got robbed pounds of meat just 'cause she sold this one to us."

"Y-Yeah but she isn't normal…" the beer belly man said. "She c-could kill us!"

"You dumbass...don't you see where we are now?"

"Y-Yeah but!" The beer belly man turned to Rukia. "Y-You won't kill us r-right?"

Rukia crossed her arms. "And I suppose the beating comes with being in your ownership too?"

"You can blame yourself for that one." The toothless man said.

"I think not." A stench caught her nose and she grimaced. "What's that?"

It smelt like raw meat left to bake in the sun. "You don't freeze your meat?"

"'Course not." The hairy man said.

Rukia stuck her tongue out and back. "That's disgusting. You sell it just like that?"

"Your seller took a nice couple pounds." The toothless man spat..

"I suppose I can't take any meat either." Rukia said more to herself.

"Y-You can't just leave us here!" The beer belly man shrieked.

"If we get outta here and catch ya, it'll be your funeral." The toothless one warned.

"Somehow I'm not that worried." Rukia said before he spat at her but she dodged. "You don't have any food too. Guess you're stuck."

"W-Wait!" The beer belly man wiggled and had the rest of the men wrapped jiggling too. With it, a blade came flying out to the ground, near the fire.

Rukia picked it up and scanned it. She could use this. It was a clip point one; a red handle with dry blood stuck on some parts but that could easily be changed and washed.

Ichigo recognized it. It was the same one she had used to open those pages in her book to find that serial number (AN: Follow Me Out the White Haze). She hadn't changed a thing.

"See ya!" She opened the door which triggered the bricks and walked out.

###

Over a course of time, Rukia had experienced a lot of interactions with people who were displeased with her for absolutely no reason.

After she had left that shed, the Head Captain had shown them all sorts of interactions. Though jovial through it all, it was a bit concerning how many groups pursued her as a kid.

He couldn't say this was normal. However, a lot of the men Rukia encountered had fragile egos and wanted to even out the score with her when she rightfully knocked them out.

For a kid who barely ate, she sure had a lot of energy. Men twice or even quadruple her size with thick muscles still fell to her kicks. He didn't know where it all came from but having experienced her kicks before, he understood why.

The conclusion came that even without much of anything within her system, she was still very strong on her own.

The Rukongai was hardly a challenge in that light. She was capable of defending herself and was witty enough to provide for herself.

Though, the number of people after her was still concerning. Even if they were just men with fragile egos, she still managed to encounter a whole truckload of them without reason. It was like they were attracted to the resistance.

Or maybe, deliberately placed.

"Some of these seem intentional. Almost like a test." Uryū pointed out.

Captain Ukitake agreed. "There have been too many incidents."

"It's gotta be that sovereign." Ichigo said. "She was responsible for the first one. I know damn well she's a part of more."

"But why?" Rangiku asked. "I don't see how any of these encounters benefit them."

"Perhaps it doesn't. Instead, they're just tests like Ishida mentioned. With each scenario, something of Kuchiki's has been tested, may it be her mind, strength, or impulses." Tōshirō said. "Though it may not all be intentional interactions, there are certainly ones which have tested her for these things and with each one, she has passed it effortlessly."

"What if they're testing her to see if she'd be capable of something?" Momo asked.

Shinji glanced at her. "You mean to fit their agenda?"

"Hm," Momo turned to Tōshirō. "I know Lieutenant Kuchiki is capable of a lot of things and we've seen that from the younger one who was brought into our time so—"

"You're thinking that maybe she plays a role in something that benefits them." Kensei finished for her.

"Well that wouldn't be surprising." Shuhei said. "I mean, we've seen it—she isn't normal and that abnormality might benefit them and that's why they're watching her. Doubt they'd be trying to evaluate whether she's capable of protecting the Soul King's heart now or at least, like this."

"Kuchiki being evaluated as a potential threat doesn't seem to be their intention here though I wouldn't disdain it as a possibility." Tōshirō said.

"But something had to tip them off." Ichigo said. "How'd they know that she could be someone like that? That sovereign even knew her time of birth and I doubt that came from any medical records. She could've been there."

"Ginrei-dono spoke of a rarity she carried with her from her human life to here when he addressed the younger her back in our world. To him, that rarity is what draws all these people towards her." Captain Ukitake looked to the back of the Head Captain. "Genryūsai-sensei, what is it that she possesses which stems this attraction?"

"You're in a hurry." The Head Captain scolded, voice rough. "Kuchiki Rukia has a complicated past that can't be explained through answers."

Ichigo paused. Something about the Head Captain's reply felt familiar as if he had heard it before. He stumbled back as his eagerness grew to find this memory in his mind. This couldn't simply be a case of déjà vu and then….it hit.

That man.

The one who he had encountered back in the Soul Society near the mountains.

He had said something like this. Ichigo remembered the frustration he felt with him only wanting to speak and refused to explain who Rukia was.

He had said something along the lines of Rukia's story being difficult to put into words and that you'd need to witness it for yourself to understand it and now, here they were.

Stories like these can't simply be told in words or drawn out images or photographs, these stories need to be seen…felt…you would have to truly immerse yourself into the world of them to comprehend them…you would have to be an eyewitness to them, viewing them as if they were almost a show to comprehend them. A story like hers can't be put into words, that is why no one will tell you even if you draw your sword and threaten to kill them, these stories are real…they can't be heard. (AN: The First Interaction).

The Head Captain was doing exactly that for them now. What was so complex that they needed to discover it on their own? But then again, the visuals did help piece everything together clearly.

Almost like a film.

And one thing for sure was that they were only at the start.

###

Rukia picked up dry wood to start a fire for the night. Alone near the river, she contemplated whether to return to that orphanage she discovered or stay here and eat fish.

Either choice was no different. Rukia had learned that the reason orphanages were not well-praised was due to how poorly they were facilitated.

There were so many concerns. From the people who ran it to the lack of supplies, food, sanitation, guidance, the list could go on and on. She just didn't understand how this could be the aftermath of death.

To her, this was much, much worse.

Why were these districts so poor?

Why did children like her have to suffer without any guidance or help?

Why were there only a few orphanages when so many kids died alone in the human world and came here without a single memory?

She just didn't understand how this whole thing worked unless this place was a disguise for Hell and she had ended up here for being devious as a human.

As boredom came, she invented all sorts of scenarios as she made shapes with wood and went exploring for flowers. Sometimes it became necessary for her to create havoc in the market to get a little fun since she was so alone.

But if there was one thing she had discovered about herself was that she wasn't good at making friends or actually, she never tried.

There were thousands of kids here. She saw them but never spoke to them. Nothing ever incited within her to try—somehow feeling like she would be rejected.

But why did she feel like that? They were all the same. They were either brought or born into this poor district so what was she truly afraid of?

Why did she feel like they'd run or reject her? Wherever this feeling came from, Rukia was certain there was some connection to it. It seemed very randomly placed within her. She'd never thought about it before until now.

But tiredness eventually took her and she found herself resting on the tall tree's lowest branch and yet incredibly high from the ground. With her back braced and her foot stretched out, cold winds continued to rush past her but Rukia found that she liked it—even if she was going to get a cold.

These were the times she missed her cardigan. She had long wanted to steal one though she was yet to find a place which sold one. Her district was empty—there was almost nothing.

She wouldn't be surprised if they didn't sell anything like that here. It did come from the human world she supposedly came from.

Rukia shut her eyes but it flew open the moment she sensed that presence. There were eyes watching her. She had recognized it before she could see it.

From a distance...to her right—across the river and a large chunk of ground stood her. That woman. The teller.

Rukia could recognize eyes like that from miles away. She was standing still in her direction with her hands in front of her lap holding a stick.

Like a statue she continued, even when Rukia caught her and somehow, she didn't feel afraid even if all the signs were telling her that seeing her again like this was concerning.

Several months had gone by and that teller seemed to like watching her. Even the fact sounded weird and discomforting though, having sensed no danger from her, Rukia didn't bother with it.

Instead, she reciprocated it.

But even that had to be disrupted like her sleep. A crack of lightning, a blaring blue, flashed in the skies. The grumbling which came after told her that it was going to be a heavy storm and there was no way she could stay under the tree.

She leaped down and prepared to head to the orphanage for the night. Even if it was cramped and she'd have to sleep in a bean bag which always seemed to smell bad, there was no other place to go.

From the open area near the river, she entered the street of the market which was dead empty. Tables were all brought in and left the place like a lonely corridor—not even people usually braced on the sides of sheds occupied it.

Rukia trekked forward, trying to remember where that place had been located. Her short trek became interrupted yet again. The night seemed to be filled with disruptions.

Though Rukia couldn't exactly pinpoint what this was in front of her. The more she recognized how abnormal this thing in front of her looked, the more fear it installed in her bones.

She froze in place.

What was this?

###

"And that's what we call a soul shadow." Mayuri explained at the fascinating sight of a skeletal sheep head being attached to a tall figure like a human, cloaked in black. It carried a staff with a sharp point.

"The sovereign was there too." Rangiku said. "This must be another one of her tests."

"I agree. It's obvious she conducted this one too." Tōshirō said. "However, why challenge her with a soul shadow? I know Kuchiki is abnormally strong however, if this is a hollow then her physical strength at this age won't be enough to subdue it. Kuchiki doesn't meet the elder Kuchiki or his son-in-law until six years from now and from her words, she first created a barrier then."

"What about that snake?" Kon asked.

"You might be onto something, Kon." Uryū said. "This might be how she meets that serpent of hers who aids her."

"Or…." Ichigo started, she defeats it herself.

###

Rukia didn't have time to fathom the repulsing look of the creature. She didn't need to know much to know that a walking figure with a skeletal animal head spelt trouble that she hadn't heard of.

Though unfortunately, that thing was quick on its feet. Before she knew it, the end of his staff stabbed into her belly and flung her backwards into a pile of crates.

Nothing came through her. She wasn't bleeding. But her stomach hurt more than cramps.

She coughed at the dust generated but forced herself to pay attention in front of her. It was gone. But then, she craned up and saw the thing backwards looming over her.

Even while knowing it was fruitless, she screamed. She struggled against the grip of the thing as its teeth clenched onto the front parts of her kimono.

She waddled her feet and tried to push it off but with her strength, it wouldn't move.

"Ughhh! Let me go!" She tried to push it off with her tiny feet but again, a child's strength couldn't counter that of a beast. Her only option was to scream.

Sharp teeth sunk into her flesh, the wound would be humongous with jaws as wide. Her hands felt hard bones which she could not push off. The cut only got deeper.

What did she do?

What could she do?

Time and time again, her screams were nothing more but muffles to those inside. It didn't matter what they heard, they wouldn't come to aid her.

Rukia was already becoming convinced that this would be her end though somehow, it didn't bother her entirely. What was there to live for here?

The afterlife was just another form of struggling.

And yet, her feet and hands pushed onto this creature she knew she could not match in strength. Rukia found that even when her thoughts were negative, her body still kept on trying. It was like she was programmed to be stubborn in all parts of her body.

There would always be a way out.

She still maintained a chunk of hope and innocence regardless of the outlook each time. She got out on her own and resumed living the very same life she loathed and yet continued in spite of it.

Optimism burnt bright in her. She'd find joy in little things, persevere in the darkest of things and find happiness in the abnormal things.

Even while being hungrily eaten by this beast upon her, all of those little lights kept on flickering. Somehow, she felt like it was guaranteed that she'd find a way out.

Her right hand reached out to grab a crate and she knocked it on the thing's head but nothing came out of it. Like a leech, the beast swallowed her blood with stains of it on its nose.

Again, she was left with nothing but her hands and feet. She clutched onto the thing's mandible and pushed upwards.

"Enck!" She strained her muscles and all to try with the utmost force. "Emm!"

With each word of struggle, the harder the bite.

"Ennneh!" She shrieked as soon as she got it to move in the slightest.

She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to give her next push her all and even then, nothing. She was starting not to feel a thing from those teeth, it concerned her like a burn with no pain did.

It must be more severe if she was starting to lose all sense of pain, she thought.

Again, her tiny hands strained to push up the mandible and finally, some movement. The creature tried to force its jaw down again to clasp onto her flesh but she didn't allow it.

Pushing and pushing and pushing, she released a scream of defiance and like magic, a surge of energy within her though unseeable to the naked eye fed her life to push the thing upwards and high up into the sky.

It was unbelievable but Rukia didn't have much time to ponder. Even without wiping her tears, she ran.

Cold hard rain came after. She didn't know where to go or where to hide. All she knew was that her left arm and neck were in pain—enough to make her sob uncontrollably.

She didn't even want to take a look at what that beast had done. Curving right, she braced against the wood house and breathed heavily.

What to do? What to do? What to do? Repeated like a mantra in her head as her eyes darted left and right. She then found a small opening she could probably fit through and dashed into it.

Curling into a ball, she squeezed her eyes shut and prayed to whatever there was. The skies, some God, anything that could get her out of this situation, something which could transport her to the real afterlife with roses and food and nice people.

What kind of place had creatures like these running around?

Her heart stilled when she felt something wet slide down her skin. It was blood. It probably dripped and led to her path. In hysterics, she shot up and threw all the hindrances in her way and went to the back of the cabin and placed herself behind a table braced against the wall.

Catching a cloth, she reached out and tried to wrap it around her wounds before the wall she had been next to was smashed open. A powerful blast sent all the wood flying and Rukia had to do everything in her power to hold in her shaky breath.

Her hand trembled against her lips.

Don't breathe, don't breathe, don't breathe.

A hot tear slipped through her right eye as she felt the heavy presence trek closer. She held her body closer together.

If it found her, she'd have nowhere to run, nothing to fight with, she'd be left for dead.

A claw with a big black fingernail then poked through the table and grabbed her neck.

She wailed as it pressed onto the wound and held her up. She kicked her feet and tried to slip out of its grasp but boy, was it tight. In a swift thrust, she was whipped around and was outside again.

With the night's light she could see the face of the beast again. It seemed that her kick was a force to be reckoned with. The right antler was crushed off.

Opening its jaws, it made a roar of war gusting hot air against her cheeks.

She tried to bite at its hands and release its grasp but with each attempt, its grip only got tighter. It was becoming difficult to breathe—it was choking her.

She did all kinds of movements to slip through its grasp though nothing delivered. In a flash, the creature rolled out its long pink tongue and slurped up all the blood she had dropped onto the ground.

She didn't hide her grimace as the tongue came back in and the nails pressed in tighter.

And it got tighter and tighter and tighter until she was whipped around again and the arm extended before throwing her through cabins and tough walls until she fell forward on the ground of some street.

Lights out.

###

Morning came, lunch came, and all the people of this place could do was either walk over her, curse her, or spit at her for blocking the way.

It really wasn't an exaggeration when she had said adults didn't give a shit about anyone here. She was bleeding right through her left shoulder and yet no one cared to even check if she was okay.

Ichigo didn't know what had happened after she was tossed to the ground. Everything switched too quickly and for the life of him, the Head Captain refused to let him know what had occurred once she fell.

A large cart rolled over her back, someone had the audacity to even step on her while others walked around.

This was beyond terrible.

An equivalent to Hell.

He became even more mortified when that sovereign just had to show up and peer over Rukia's body. He didn't know whether it was satisfaction or remorse on her face—he couldn't tell from her body language alone.

But her clear response to this was easily shown when she raised her right foot and pressed onto Rukia's skull.

Fuck, remorse. It was satisfying for her.

He could sense the pressure of her weight. Was she trying to kill her?

Fortunately, she could never go down that easily. Rukia's hands rose and pushed the foot off. He could tell she was dazed and was just barely holding onto some consciousness.

With some revolt, the sovereign stood back and disappeared into black wind.

Slowly, he watched her rise up—she obviously didn't remember what happened to her. Her face said it all.

"It couldn't have just left her there unless it was a test." Tōshirō said. "Which it was. That sovereign confirms it."

"She's really strong." Rangiku remarked. "At her age now, something like that…"

"Nearly impossible." Shinji finished.

"That wound's very deep." Isane observed as Rukia walked past them, unknowingly touching her shoulder.

"She obviously doesn't know where she got it." Shuhei said. "But I'm guessing it heals in no time given ya know...who she is."

"Hm." Uryū brought his knuckle under his chin. "These tests are becoming much clearer the more I think of it."

"How so?" Ichigo said.

"This particular test was to unlock something. Hidden strength. She did more than just kick that soul shadow off, she threw him miles and miles into the air." Uryū explained.

"The other tests we experienced before were basic ones. A test of her strength without much of a challenge and wits. She passed all those effortlessly and now, they are trying to unlock something else." Tōshirō added further.

"That means they're testing out Nee-san to help her gain something?" Kon asked.

"It's quite obviously a joint deal. If Kuchiki can discover more about her abnormalities, she will have the benefit of using them. Perhaps they benefit from this as to why they're aiding her with these tests." Captain Ukitake said.

"That's still a problem. She's got somethin' else. I've never met a single goddamn child who can kick a hollow into the air by miles." Kensei said. "I don't think she's a rare soul. It's too much."

"Well it's obvious she doesn't know anything about it either. She was just as surprised too." Ichigo argued.

"Now, maybe. But in present time, you know goddamn well that she knows what she is, Ichigo." Kensei said.

"You're right, a rare soul." Ichigo responded.

"There's gotta be something more to this." Kensei said. "There's no way a child of that height with barely nothin' in their stomach can fight off as many people as she did without fallin' and I know there's absolutely no way that she could kick as strong as that without a single muscle."

"You're right," Ichigo remarked again. "But she did."

"That ain't got to do with no rarity." Kensei argued. "She's something else. You gotta admit that to at least yourself, Ichigo."

"She's got rare abilities—that's the point. A rare soul, what more aren't you getting?"

"Have you seen that child, Ichigo?" Kensei pointed at the young Rukia's back as she walked ahead of them. "When's the last time she ate?"

Ichigo opened his mouth but the Head Captain answered before he could, surprisingly. "Seventeen days."

"Seventeen days." Kensei repeated. "She's thin as paper. No food, only water, barely under 4'5'', where's she getting all that energy from?"

Ichigo didn't have a proper answer. Except for the fact that she was capable of a lot on her own.

###

After dressing the wound, Rukia sat in the nearby field with the most flowers she had ever seen. Knelt down into the wet grass, dirt stained her kneecaps as she carefully picked flowers from the ground.

The earthy scent was calming to be near after the stench which usually polluted some areas of the Rukongai. But Rukia couldn't entirely blame anyone either, the most this place seemed to have is water—soap if they were lucky.

She hadn't thought much of her injury. She was curious though given where she had woken up, she had an idea. To rid herself of impure thoughts, she wanted to imagine other things.

With a strip of tree bark, she twisted it and decorated it with flowers of some sort. Humming along to some imaginary tune, she prepared to escape into another market in the Rukongai and finally enroll in that orphanage.

###

The orphanage was everything she had heard it to be. She rarely spent time there though for warmth and some security, she found it necessary to stay.

For the first time, she had seen books here to read. Pages were ripped and crusty though she enjoyed discovering the fact that she could read—a skill not many children in the Rukongai had if they weren't taught.

Most of the books were very boastful though. She found it strange how this place was so glorified when it was downright terrible to children.

She knew of shinigamis, assassins, quincies, and hollows. She didn't think much of any of them. And then, she learned about different noble families and some other locations of this seemingly horrid place.

Apparently there were gorgeous fields, lush fruit gardens, stunning scenery which just had to be seen with the naked eye to know how glorious they were. It all felt like a dream. Somehow she felt she had ended up in Hell instead.

Where were all these things?

There were two places she had learned about which were the equivalent of home to the rich, middle class, and the lucky.

The Seireitei. Where the shinigami resided.

The Court of the Assassins. Also known as the Capital. Where the assassins and every other thing resided.

The Seireitei appeared plain on the outside in comparison to the Court's ostentatious infrastructure; however, the fields, restaurants, landscapes, recreational activities, and overall grandeur were not. It was also home to the noble houses. Rukia couldn't imagine what it would be like to step in there.

And then, there was the Court of the Assassins. Rich with colour, with floors probably made of gems and fancy infrastructure. And contrary to the Seireitei, the same glam on the outside was the same glam it carried within.

A few glimpses into their life and Rukia wondered what it felt like to be them. But then another thought swarmed and she wondered, why couldn't everyone live comfortably like them?

This was the afterlife. Somehow the idea of it felt deceiving.

Why was there life beyond death if only a selected few got to live so comfortably?

Though she pondered on it often, she came to the conclusion that this was her life now. She was months in deep and even with the negatives, she could search for some positives in life.

Perhaps there would be something more, waiting for her at the end of this. Perhaps she could live a comfortable life eventually as a grownup.

For the first time in a while, clear blue skies were forecasted. Beneath a large oak tree, bark incredibly thick—unlike the one she had left behind that other market—she used the petals of weeds, mud, and water to create a drawing on the ground.

Quietly, she embarked on her own mission to find life in this dull town and perhaps revive some life into it.

End Note

The next chapter, Hell is Here: Skeptics & Hypocrites Part I will be posted next Thursday. Wanted: Skeptics & Hypocrites Part II will be posted the next week after that.

Images for this Chapter

Asa Cornel, moodboard + image of live action character (Olivia Foxworth)