When morning came, R was alone in her futon. Did I dream all of that? Had they really lain together, cuddling for most of the night? She sat up and found herself wrapped in Byakuya san's silken scarf. It really happened, she mused. I was cuddling my favourite childhood *cartoon* crush all night. She smiled, looking at the crumpled sheets beside her, and it quickly turned into a frown. What was she doing? She was going to have to leave this place. Sometime sooner than later. What was she doing getting close to Byakuya san?

She got up to brush, now remembering the rest of the events of last night. She was going to have to meet the sou-taichou today. This was worse than her weekly meetings at work, presenting on her sales studies reports. How would the rest take it? She wondered if Ichigo had started his training with the Visoreds. He hadn't come back for her as he promised. She didn't hold it against him, not when she knew that he was going through that tough journey with his inner hollow. Should she tell them why he had an inner hollow? How much should she reveal?

She got dressed, deep in thought, mentally preparing herself for the arguments and questions that would come at her.

He had left the scarf with her.

Byakuya scowled deeper than usual, thinking of the night before. They hadn't done anything, not even kiss. But that hug had been intimate enough. He had deprived himself of affection after Hisana, and R… Well, she seemed to be in need of affection herself. He wondered about her life in the WOL. Did she have a family? A partner? He felt annoyed at that thought. Why hadn't he ever asked her about her life back home? Why did he even want to know?

He did not need this complication right now. They were preparing for a battle, and no one knew, with the implied strength of the enemy, who would survive and who wouldn't. That might include R too. Rukia, Renji, himself, who knew what would happen to them?

And yet, he had wrapped up her chilly arms in his family heirloom (damn it, that thing cost 12 mansions in Seireitei!) before he slipped out at dawn. He had felt she would sleep better with his presence beside her. He wondered what she was thinking of at this moment. All night, he had been painfully aware of her warm body pressed up against him, and was unable to touch her because of his own pride.

She had murmured his name in her sleep and cuddled up to him at one point, and it had taken all he had to not pull her into his arms and have her in every way possible. He shook his head. He would not think of all that. In an hour, he would call on her to take her to the sou-taichou. And he would pretend that last night never happened. He would not lose his pride over a woman.

The meeting room was packed when Rukia and Renji reached there. They saw that all the taichous and fuku-taichous had gathered in the room, speaking in urgent voices to each other. Seeing everyone gathered there, Rukia felt a customary tear in her heart, as she thought about how Kaien dono deserved to be there. How he had deserved to live.

"Rukia, isn't that the ryoka woman?" Renji nudged her out of her thoughts, pointing to R, where she stood near the sou-taichou, as her brother spoke to the commander.

Nodding, Rukia went up to R, who seemed relieved to see her.

"Rukia, I'm glad you're here. Calms my nerves," she gave a little laugh, fanning herself. "Hello, Renji san."

Renji blushed, not knowing why, and stammered his reply. "O-Oh. Hello, R san. Have you been comfortable in the quarters?"

She laughed again. "As comfortable as a potential prisoner could get. I haven't been seeing you around. Have you been training?" She looked at Renji's biceps in question.

"Y-yes." He turned even redder. "I have been training on the Kuchiki household grounds, accompanying Rukia as she wallowed in self-pity—"

"Kisama. What nonsense are you speaking? I had to pull you out of your self-pity every time your stupid bankai broke."

"Teme, Rukia! How dare you insult my bankai! It just needs more time to develop! I'll be leagues ahead of you by the time you even access yours!" He roared at Rukia till her hair flapped back.

"Sure, it needs time, Renji," she smirked. "It needs time to develop, just like your conversation skills with ladies you just met. You know, just till the blushing stops."

Seeing Renji about to shout again, R interrupted them. "Guys, guys, please. Don't argue on my behalf. Renji's shyness makes him adorable and that's that." The two girls giggled as Renji looked helplessly toward his taichou. On cue, Byakuya approached them.

Yamamoto sou-taichou slammed his walking stick on the ground. "Taichous and fuku-taichous. Attention please. We will now commence the meeting with R, the ryoka woman, to get more information about Aizen's plans hereon."

R felt the invisible spotlight on her, along with the stares (and some glares) (Soi fon taichou, that was. No surprise) of the gathered captains and vice captains.

"We recently discovered that Aizen has still been tapping into Soul Society in order to gain information about our plans," the Captain Commander continued, eliciting audible gasps and curses from them. "However, with the help of Urahara Kisuke, we have managed to undo the surveillance. R, you may now tell us what you know about what will happen according to your knowledge."

Everyone turned to her, expectant. "I…" her voice was small. She cleared and re-cleared her throat to no avail. Lives depended on the information she was about to reveal. Thinking of that, she felt more nervous than usual.

Byakuya san moved to her side, with a little cough. She did not know if he did it on purpose or not, but he released his reiatsu just a little, and it comforted her enough to continue. She would thank him later. Well, if he stopped avoiding her, that was.

"For those of you who haven't met me," she started, "My name is R. Two weeks ago, I stepped through the mirror in my home, in the WOL, and ended up in Seireitei. In my world, we have a manga called Bleach, and it is the story of you guys. I knew about Ichigo, his friends, Soul Society, Hollows and all of you, because I have read the story up to the point where the battle with Aizen concludes." The murmuring around her intensified, but she pressed on. "It may be hard to believe, but please bear with me." She took a deep breath. "First of all, you are going to come out of this victorious." Someone whooped. She frowned, and continued, "But some of you will end up paying heavy prices for this victory."

"Aizen has known about Urahara san's hougyoku for a long time. And that's because he created one of his own. He was feeding it reiatsu from unsuspecting souls in Rukongai and Soul Society, but it wasn't enough. So he fed Urahara san's hougyoku to his own." She saw fear in some faces. Rangiku san, for instance, must've recalled her own terrible experience with the unnamed Shinigami who had stolen her power when she was barely a child.

"Through Urahara san's hougyoku, Aizen's hougyoku now has the ability to awaken itself whenever he merges his whole reiatsu with it. He already has an army. A full army of Vasto Lordes. There are 10 in total, and 2 of them will make an appearance in the WOL any time now."

"Then what are we waiting for? I'll go down to WOL right now!" exclaimed Zaraki taichou, licking his lips. "It's been some time since I found a worthy opponent to cut!"

"Silence! Keep quiet till she is done speaking!" Sou taichou shouted.

"I advise you not to go down when they go to the WOL," R said. "Their presence is what will induce Ichigo to finally confront his hollow and train himself for the strength to fight the Arrancar."

"Aizen is going to cause a distraction by kidnapping Orihime, making it seem like she betrayed Soul Society. And he will divide his army. Most of them will remain in Hueco Mundo, waiting for Ichigo to come rescue her. This will be followed by half of the Gotei 13. When he has everyone in Hueco Mundo as he wanted, he plans to trap them there, while he goes to the WOL. To create the King's Key from the reiryoku rich Karakura Town. There, another battle will ensue with the rest of the Gotei 13 and the top three Arrancar."

"Ichigo will be the one to defeat Aizen in the end, with great help from Urahara San, Yoruichi san, and his father, Ex captain Shiba Isshin—" There was a loud gasp, and she realized it was from Rukia. Oh great, she thought. I know the situation is as serious as death, but come on, Rukia just realized that she is attracted to the boy who is related to the man she was so attached to. Spiky hair fetish…

"You can stop zoning out now," came the admonishing voice of Byakuya san. "Unless you plan to make the captains wait till you regain your poor focus?"

Chastised, the smile died on R's face. She cleared her throat once more and continued, "Sorry. So Ichigo will end up losing his Shinigami powers as he has to use the final Getsuga to subdue Aizen."

"Are you saying that Aizen will survive?" Hitsugaya taichou's fists were clenched, and his reiatsu was starting to chill the whole room.

"Aizen will fuse with the hougyoku and become immortal," she stated. Hitsugaya taichou closed his eyes in blinding rage, struggling to control himself.

"It's not fair, Hitsugaya taichou," she softened her tone. "It never will be. But justice will be served, for all the people whose trust was broken, whose respect was taken for granted, and whose hearts were trampled needlessly upon." She looked at Komamura taichou, Hisagi fuku-taichou, Kira fuku-taichou and Rangiku san. "Justice will be served by Soul Society for greed of power and the pain of betrayal."