Chapter 83: 1,000 Yr BWArc: Reunited Pt. 2

Minata's POV

It was a shock to the system when my eyes found him at the edge of the plaza.

He had just walked into view from the southern end, his eyes staring straight ahead as half of his face remained covered by the top of the white cape he wore. At first, I thought my mind was playing tricks on me, or it was a Quincy hoping to set a trap, but the more I watched and stretched out my senses, the more I realized that this was not some scheme to drop my guard.

It was Byakuya in the flesh, completely healed and looking as stoic as ever.

Quelling my inner happiness, I watched him as looked around, taking in the destruction that surrounded us as his face would sometimes take on that familiar distant look he gets when he's talking to Senbonzakura within their Inner World.

Judging from the quirk of his eyebrows, whatever Senbonzakura had to say to him, it was probably somewhat cheeky.

"If he's being cheeky again, then he must be in better spirits."

"I would like to think so Mizukiri," I say in return, now more used to the echo that now tinged her voice. "I'm sure you can't wait to reunite with him."

"Just as you can't wait to reunite with your man," She says in return, her own sense of cheekiness starting to show. ". . . Do you think he'll mind my new look?"

"I'm sure he will not have anything negative to say, but I'm certain he'll be shocked once he sees what you look like now."

"Well, we could always find out, but we still have to find that Quincy we've been tracking first."

"Good thing that he's about to save us some trouble then. . ."

And that's when we see him . . . The Quincy we've been tracking for the past fifteen minutes now.

He was fast, appearing from behind some rubble about thirty feet to the right of Byakuya, but I was faster, throwing Mizukiri into his neck before he had a chance to launch a single arrow. The sound of the Quincy's body landing on the ground immediately caught Byakuya's attention, and as soon as he turned to look, I moved, coming to a stop just as he said my name.

His voice was music to my ears, like a long-needed shot to the heart.

It also had the unintended effect of signaling my emotions to finally come to the surface, especially when his spiritual pressure slowly reached out toward mine, as if he were trying to use every single form of confirmation he could think of to know for certain that I was here, right behind him.

"You called?" I managed to say, not sounding as choked up as I felt as I loosened the hold on my own spiritual pressure so that it could finally link with his, and when they finally mingled.

. . . The relief was practically overwhelming as I started to look him over, taking in every single detail I could as I moved around him, committing his presence to memory.

"Mina, have I passed your inspection?" He asks as I move to his side, somehow having the nerve to tease me.

"I see his dry wit is still intact . . ."

"Like it never left Kiri. . ." I say in return, my eyes now on the verge of tears as we finally came face to face. We didn't lock eyes at first, as he took the time to look over me now, his eyes moving down to my feet before slowly progressing upward.

It gave me time to look over his face, no longer covered by the mess of bandages and tubes I last saw him with. His piercing gray eyes were focused, lingering at the rips in my uniform and my bandaged left shoulder, but once his eyes finally found mine, his eyes flickered with emotion, widening slightly as he took in my less than composed state.

"Mina, your eye-"

I didn't let him finish, practically jumping into his arms as I wrapped my own around his neck, ignoring the sudden pain that laced through my shoulder as I did so. The familiar feel of his own arms wrapping around my waist, his reiatsu wrapping around my own . . .

I couldn't help but let the tears finally fall as I held the man I loved in my arms.

"Can you blame me for crying right now?" I ask as I rested my head against his shoulder, allowing myself this moment of vulnerability before I would have to lock it down again.

A battlefield was not a good place for tears after all. "The last time I saw you, you were lying in the Fourth Division barracks with almost no chance for survival . . . and now you're here."

"And now I'm here . . . And I have no plans on leaving you like that again."

His words held promise, and I was going to make damn sure he kept to it from here on out.

"You better not." I say as I started to pull myself together, willing my tears to go away as I let his voice wash all over me and my heightened nerves. ". . . The manor has certainly felt emptier since you and Rukia have been away."

"The manor . . . Our clans?"

"Fine, for now," I say as I pull back, now facing him eye to eye. "I would explain more, but we need to move. We're basically one big target the longer we linger out here."

"And where exactly shall we go?" He asks as he drops his arms back to his sides. "This terrain is now completely unfamiliar to me."

"Luckily for you, I've had enough time to familiarize myself with the new architecture," I say as I feel Mizukiri leave our inner world. "And speaking of being completely unfamiliar with things, there's a lot you need to know, Byakuya. A lot of stuff has changed while you and the others were taken to the Royal Realm."

"If I had to wager a guess, I believe a lot of what you plan to tell me is worse than good," He says, his eyes slowly moving toward Mizukiri behind me, his gaze widening as he takes in the sight of her.

I couldn't blame him for his reaction.

Seeing the now hollow version of my zanpakuto walking about has become quite the sight to see for some people.

In her current form, Mizukiri made for quite the sight. There was no color on her person to speak of save for the black sclera and blue pupils of her eyes. Frankly, she was a starkly ghost-like version of herself, with wilder, shaggier hair, sharper facial features, and even sharper nails.

As a fellow shinigami put it, she was hauntingly beautiful, and I had a certain exiled shinigami to thank for that.

"Hmm, you wouldn't be far off the mark Captain Kuchiki," Mizukiri says, the reverberating timbre of her voice echoing through the surrounding silence, eerily like Kurosaki's own when he deigned to wear his Hollow mask in battle. "But it's best that our discussion happens in a safe and secure place rather than out in the open."

"The closest spot is about two miles east of here," I further added. ". . . Any questions you may have will have to wait until we get there."

"As you wish. . ." I heard him say as I went to retrieve my blade, just as Mizukiri slipped back into my consciousness. "But I hope that you plan to explain everything as soon as we get there."

"As if I want any secrets between us. . ." I managed to say, somehow managing to sound teasing as I disappeared in a burst of shunpo, knowing that Byakuya would be close at my heels.


Byakuya's POV

Minata led me through several empty streets and walkways, deftly putting us on a path that avoided any Quincies within the area, and there were quite a few. It was a tense ten minutes, but we finally came to a stop at a small, dark alley off to the side of a large courtyard. It was practically a hole in the wall, barely noticeable unless you really looked for it, but Mina found it with ease, gesturing for me to follow her into it.

"An alleyway is not a place that I expected you to lead me to Mina," I couldn't help but say as I followed her into the darkened corridor.

"It's definitely not the most comforting place to be in, but it has its advantages," She says, brushing her hand against the wall on our left. ". . . Here it is."

It was a hidden doorway, only activated by pressing down on a panel to the side and infusing it with reiatsu. Looking back at me with a smirk, Mina gestures for me to enter first, so I did, walking into a room that was about half the size of my office back in the manor, and my office is a large space.

The space was bare, but suitable. It held two beds, a table, a few chairs, and a cabinet in between the beds that held supplies. It was enough for a temporary stay, but soon, we would have to move again.

"We'll be safe here for the night," I hear Mina say as she seals the door behind us with another pulse of reiatsu. "This is one of the many bunkers that the Fourth and the Kido Corps managed to create before the fighting started anew. This just happens to be one of the larger ones."

"Can the Quincies find these bunkers?" I ask as I watch her step over to the table. "And how exactly did these bunkers not disappear with the rest of the Seireitei?"

"I would have to answer your second question before I can answer your first," She says as she pulls a chair over to the table. "When the Quincies made their first move, they left a lot of lingering reiatsu in their wake, with some areas being quite heavy on the stuff. . . It was to the Twelfth Division and Kido Corps complete gain, and they attacked it with gusto."

"They found a way to use it for our side's advantage," I say as I follow her lead, grabbing a chair for myself before following her over to the table.

"They found ways, to be precise . . . However, most of them have been small considering the limited amount of time they had to work with the stuff," She clarifies as she sits down, grimacing slightly as she grasps her shoulder. ". . . Yep, the painkiller is definitely wearing off now."

"How badly does it hurt?" I ask, not afraid to let the concern show in my voice as I set my chair down next to her.

"It doesn't hurt as much as when I first got it. It's more irritating than anything," She mumbles, looking up at my face. ". . . As to your questions, well, while the Twelfth used their samples of Quincy reiatsu for more offensive heavy ideas, the Kido Corps opted to reverse engineer the reiatsu for protection and barrier spells. . . You should have seen the look on my Grandmother's face when she came to the Captain Commander's office to announce her division's breakthroughs."

"I'm sure it was quite the sight," I say as I sit, my eyes still set on the shoulder she is still clutching. "How did you receive your wound?"

"Knocked a fellow seated officer out of the way before they got their head shot through with an arrow. it nicked me on the top of the shoulder, but it could have been a lot worse," She calmly says as she finally moves her hand away, only to grimace when the blood starts showing through the fabric. ". . . Well, this is just great."

"You didn't take the time to get it properly healed?"

"Way to sound like the concerned boyfriend, and not the chastising captain master."

"Quiet Senbonzakura . . . You're teasing is not needed."

"And here I thought you were finally appreciating my sense of humor."

"It's a recent injury, a result of the battle back in that plaza we reunited in," She tells me matter of factly as Mizukiri - still in her new form - reappears and walks over to the cabinet, likely to retrieve the first aid kit. "I sent the rest of the squad I was traveling with on ahead while I remained on the scene to make sure no stragglers were hiding in the rubble. . . And soon enough, you appeared."

"And was almost shot down myself," I say, not forgetting that I was this close to being ambushed. ". . . As Senbonakura will likely put it, you bailed us out, and I thank you for the save."

"I will always have your back, just as you always have mine," She says, her sincerity much appreciated. "And speaking of Senbonzakura, how is he?"

"Fine. . . A little hollow on the inside, but I've been better."

"He is alright, for the most part," I admit, speaking for him. "He would convey this to you himself, but it seems that having one's bankai stolen has the side effect of leaving the zanpakuto spirit unable to leave their master's inner world."

"Makes sense. . . Hyourinmaru, Tenken, and Suzumebachi have all had the same issue. None of them have been unable to physically appear since the first wave. Captain Hitsugaya has even said he hasn't heard a peep from his partner since his bankai was taken from him."

"So, I wasn't the only one who had their bankai stolen then," I say, shaking my head now that I knew that the situation was much worse than I expected. It was bad enough that my bankai was stolen, but to know that three others were in the same situation I was . . .

. . . This was not a fate that I would wish on anyone.

Okay, maybe Aizen, if he even ever had one that is.

"No, you were not, but before I can tell you more, I have to give you something," She tells me as she reaches into her pocket, pulling out a small capsule with a pill inside before holding it out to me. "You need to take this."

"And what is . . . it exactly?" I asked as I looked down at the pill that was as dark as a shadow.

"It's a Shin'eiyaku. It's Urahara's latest invention to turn the tide in this war," She says, smirking slightly as Mizukiri hovers over her master's shoulder, holding the first aid quietly in her hands.

"And how is a small little pill supposed to help with that?" I ask, still unconvinced, my words somehow amusing Mizukiri, if her sudden smirk was anything to go by.

"It'll give you back Senbonzakura Kageyoshi!"

"She said what now?!" Senbonzakura's shock was very much my own as we tried to wrap our heads around the words that Mizukiri just said with her changed voice. "My love said what now?! Did I hear that exactly right?!"

"Trust me Senbonzakura. Your ears have not deceived you." I say as I tried to school my face back into whatever mask of composure I had before the news was suddenly dropped on me like the sun falling from the sky. "This pill can give me back my bankai?! How?"

"By temporarily hollowfying you," Mina tells me, placing the pill onto the table before taking the first aid from her zanpakuto. "I don't know the specific details of how he managed to make it, nor do I want to know, but the general idea is that when you take this pill, it will make your reiatsu, and thus your bankai, too poisonous for the Quincies to steal away, or in cases such as yours, too poisonous to remain in their possession."

"Hollows have always been poisonous to Quincies due to their inability to absorb their reiatsu," I say, working the details out for myself. ". . . Looks like Urahara really did outdo himself this time, though I'm sure some of our fellow shinigami have had their fair share of reservations about taking in hollow reiatsu."

"This is not the time to be squeamish or care about any notions about keeping our species pure Byakuya. We need every advantage we can get to take down the Quincies, and this is one of them," Mina tells me, her tone forceful as she pointed at the pill. "Remember, Urahara has said that the effects are temporary, though how long temporary means in this context is up for debate."

"Knowing that mad scientist, temporary could easily mean one day or a full year, but I digress. . . Anything else?"

"You don't have to ingest it. All you have to do is touch it and let the pill do the rest. . . The one drawback of the shin'eiyaku is that the effects do not happen instantly. It's a gradual process, a few hours at best."

"So, I'll be a hollowfied samurai for a while as I wait for our bankai to slowly return . . . It could be worse," I hear Senbonzakura say in my head. ". . . So, what are you waiting for?"

"Hmm, and here I thought I would have to confront As Nodt to get my bankai back," I say as I reach for the pill, my eyes widening at how quickly it absorbed itself into my skin, the rush of dark reiatsu running through my system giving me pause. ". . . It feels a little underhanded, if you ask me."

"I figured you would say that, but you'll have to get used to it for now . . . We're going to have to be a little underhanded from here on out, out of necessity more than anything else."

"What do you mean by that?"

"They've been watching us, Byakuya. The Quincies . . ." She tells me as she opens the case. "Turns out that when they first retreated a thousand years ago, they didn't escape to the Human World or some other dimension. They retreated into the shadows, literally."

"They've been hiding in the shadows of Soul Society for all this time . . ? How was that possible?"

"They used the reishi within our own world to create a pocket dimension within the shadows, securing it so well that not even Akira detected them until they finally revealed their little ruse," Mina explains as she starts to unwind the bandage around her shoulder. "For a thousand years, they've watched and waited, gathering their strength while they took note of any and all weaknesses we had. . . No wonder their first attack was so efficiently vicious."

"We did not know what hit us until it actually happened," I concede, shaking my head.

And then a new, sobering thought occurred to me. "How much did we lose during that first wave?"

"Too much. Only the Fourth Division didn't suffer massive losses, and that was because the Captain Commander ordered them to stay put until all the fighting was over . . . As you already know, you were not the only one to lose your bankai, and along with the three others I've mentioned, one other bankai was confirmed stolen in the first onslaught."

"One more was taken?" I ask, not liking how dark her expression turned. "Whose bankai was stolen?"

"Captain Commander Yamamoto's. . . He lost his bankai to the Quincy leader, a man they call Yhwach."

"But with the invention of the shin'eiyaku, that has to have been rectified, correct?" I ask, somehow accepting the result while also not believing it at the same time. "He has his bankai once again does he not?"

"Yamamoto's dead. . . Kyoraku is the Captain Commander now."

"You have got to be kidding me."

A/N: Please review!