Five minutes. She had fallen asleep for five blissful minutes. Those five minutes had been some of the only sleep she'd gotten in days. To a normal person with a normal life, this would have been a blessing. But Rukia Kuchiki was in no way a normal person.

There were two reasons why she wasn't grateful for that nap. One: those measly moments had left her with a craving for more. And two: she was late. Again.

Rukia ran through the crowded hallways of the 13th Division's barracks. She had taken her nap in one of the few empty offices that were left. She couldn't help but smile as she remembered all the new changes; all the good changes. The hallways were crowded because of all of the shinigami who were finally medically cleared to return to their duties. The offices were full of life once again. Empty seats were finally being filled.

What was more exciting was the upcoming graduation of the newest shinigami from the Academy. The 13th Division, like all the other divisions, was busy with the preparations for the upcoming Evaluations. The Evaluations are a time where the graduates applying to be a part of the Gotei 13 would be tested to see if they were truly ready to do so. It was so exciting and the Evaluations, despite being so much work, came at the perfect time. All of the divisions would finally have more hands around to help with repairs. The workload would finally begin to lessen.

Rukia knocked on her captain's door. She frowned when she heard a terrifying cough. A "come in" followed. She entered to see her smiling captain. She knew he was trying to play off the coughing fit, like he always did. For his sake, she went along with it.

"Ah, Rukia, what brings you here so late in the afternoon?" he asked, his voice raspy.

She slightly lifted an eyebrow. "Captains Ukitake, earlier you said that you needed to see me for something..."

Ukitake spent the next few seconds looking at his subordinate with an empty stare. He was trying to remember what he had needed her for. He laughed when he finally gave up. It was a kindhearted and awkward laugh.

"I can't seem to remember what I needed you for." He rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed. "I think it had something to do with the Evaluations…"

Rukia just looked at him as he tried and tried to remember what he had needed her for. For a moment, she questioned how such a forgetful man was a captain. She then took a moment to appreciate his clueless smile and his awkward chuckles, and she remembered one of the countless reasons.

Rukia let her captain continue his uncomfortable laughter. After a moment of awkward silence, Ukitake said, "Sorry, Rukia."

She smiled, when suddenly, she was overwhelmed by a strange feeling. Rukia felt a strong burning sensation in her chest and abdomen. She was dizzy, and she felt herself losing her balance. She caught herself on her captain's desk. Ukitake stood up and rushed to her side.

"Rukia, what's wrong? Are you all right?" he cried. His worried eyes looked down to look at his subordinate. Her brows were furrowed and her mouth grimaced as she tried to bear the sudden pain.

After a few moments, her pain began to subside, and the distressed older man let out the breath he had been holding.

Rukia took a moment to catch her breath. The pain had finally subsided to a more bearable level. She took her weight off of the desk and looked up to her captain. With a smile, she said, "Yes, of course. I don't know what happened. I guess I just...Do you want me to deliver those papers?" she said, pointing to the stacks of papers behind her captain's desk.

"Rukia, I don't think-"

"Don't worry, Captain! I just got a little lightheaded. I feel a lot better now! I just need to walk it off! So, would you like me to deliver those?"

Ukitake looked at his young subordinate. He tried to look past her determined expression. Was she telling him the truth? He hoped she was. He hoped she truly was alright. "Ah, yes. That would be great. Thank you, Rukia," he said, a strained smile on his face. He knew arguing with her would get him nowhere.

He went behind his desk and hauled stack after stack of papers up onto the desk. He almost laughed when he saw Rukia's face.

"I think this might be a little much, even for you, Rukia." He laughed. Before she tried to convince him otherwise, he continued, "Let's just have you do the first pile, and tomorrow, you can finish the rest. Sound good?"

Rukia smiled.

There was a knock at the door.

"Come in!" called Captain Ukitake.

They turned to see an officer enter Ukitake's office.

"Sorry to interrupt, Sir. We need you for just a second," said the officer.

Ukitake smiled. "Of course. Excuse me, Rukia, I'll be back in a moment."

A smile. "No problem. Take your time, Captain."

Once her captain had left the room, Rukia had nothing else to think about other than how tired she was. She tried and tried to ignore her heavy eyes, but it was no use.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if I just...closed my eyes for a little bit. Just for a little, though.

Rukia sat down on the couch and let her tired eyes close. And before she knew it, just as easily as she had closed her eyes, she had fallen asleep.

"Sorry about that, Rukia. Where were we-"

Ukitake smile. He had come back into his office to find Rukia dozing off on his couch.

His smile soon turned into a frown though. It wasn't like Rukia at all to fall asleep like this. He wasn't mad of course. And he couldn't blame her. It seemed as though everyone was running on fumes these days. There was just too much to do and not enough people to help. He was still surprised nonetheless. He knew Rukia was tired. But he also knew Rukia. She would never let herself fall asleep while she was working, especially if he was present. That's just who she was. And the fact that here she was, asleep.

Ukitake couldn't help but think back to a few short months ago. Was she relapsing?

Ukitake mentally shook himself. Rukia was not superhuman, though she was pretty close. She was a regular soul who needed adequate sleep. Everyone was overworked these days. Rukia was no exception. Maybe she really was just tired.

Or maybe…

"Rukia," he said gently. Ukitake shook her a little. "Rukia, wake up."

He watched as her eyes slowly fluttered open. As expected, Rukia immediately shot up and started bowing over and over.

"Captain Ukitake, please forgive me! I am so sorry! This is inexcusable! I-"

Ukitake chuckled a little. "Rukia, it's ok! I'm not upset. Frankly, I'm just a little worried. Is everything alright?"

Rukia looked up at her captain. He was worried about her?

"Yes!" she answered almost a little too hastily. "Everything is fine!"

"Are you sure? Rukia," he said a little more seriously, "you're obviously very tired. Are you still having trouble sleeping at night?"

Rukia panicked a little. She knew exactly what her captain was trying to bring up, and she didn't want to talk about that.

Ukitake noticed Rukia's reluctance to answer. "I know that you'd rather not talk about that. Especially with me," he said sadly. "But I just want to make sure that you're alright. What happened to you six months ago-"

"I'm fine!"

Her outburst surprised him. It had surprised her as well.

Rukia blinked. She hadn't meant to answer like that. "I'm fine. Really," she repeated in a calmer manner. "I know that you mean well, Captain. I know that. But we don't have to talk about that. I'm dealing with it. I've dealt with it," she corrected herself.

She took a deep breath. She mentally shook herself. "Thank you, though. I truly appreciate your concern. I guess I am a little tired. But I'm fine," she reassured with a smile.

Ukitake looked at his subordinate. Was she telling him the truth? Or was she telling him what he wanted to hear? With Rukia, he never knew.

"So, where should I take that paperwork?" she asked, changing the subject.

Her captain looked at her once more. He had no other choice than to trust her and her judgment.

Ukitake started listing off the places he needed paperwork delivered to.

"...Oh, would you look at that! These need to go to your brother! How long has it been since you two saw each other? A while I'd say what with all that's going on right now. Alright-y! These last ones go over to Shiro-chan at the Tenth Division. And could you tell him that these documents up top need to be signed and turned in by tomorrow morning?"

"Of course, Captain. Is there anything else?"

"Yes, Rukia. Once you're done, get some rest. Please. You've been working incredibly hard nonstop since you've returned to work. And I'm very grateful for that. I don't know what I did to deserve such a devoted subordinate like you." Ukitake placed a hand on her shoulder and gently squeezed. "But don't push yourself. You don't have to make up for the time you've been gone. And you don't have anything to prove. Just take care of yourself."

Rukia nodded. "Thank you for that, Captain Ukitake. I understand." She went over to his desk to grab the paperwork she was going to deliver. "I'll be on my way then. I'll see you tomorrow, Captain."

She left.

I really hope that you do understand, Rukia.

Ukitake frowned. He knew that Rukia had been working herself harder than usual. Everyone was. Aizen had left so much destruction behind that no one would be able to rest for months, maybe even years. It was torture for everyone. And in Rukia's case, maybe worse.

Aizen had not only left physical damage to the Seireitei and to the Soul Reapers, but he also left emotional and psychological damage to many. And Rukia might just be the one Aizen had left the most damaged.

The first month after Aizen's betrayal, Ukitake had noticed that Rukia - to say the least - wasn't being herself. He had tried getting her to talk to someone. However, she had refused every time he brought it up. She even started getting upset with him because of it, so he had dropped the matter completely. That is, until Rukia started having what at the time seemed like random panic attacks at work. He thought that it would be best if he tried to talk to her about seeing a professional again. Unfortunately, Rukia refused to listen to him about the matter.

No matter what he said or how he said it, Rukia wouldn't listen. Ukitake watched her become someone he could barely recognize with each passing day. He knew something had to be done. But what could he do? Someone who he loved and cared for deeply was in pain and she refused to take help from him or anyone else.

Finally, he had made a decision. It was a decision that, to this day, he regretted. Despite how much Ukitake hadn't wanted to, he went to her brother. How he desperately wished it hadn't had to be that way.

Ukitake had known Rukia for a long time. He knew her since she was fresh out of the Academy. He watched her grow up and become a powerful shinigami. And throughout the years, he had seen Rukia mad only a handful of times. But he never once saw her as mad as she was when she found out what he had done.

She had burst through the doors of his office. There were tears running down her face. She was furious and did not hide it. She demanded he explain to her how he could possibly go to her brother to tell him that she needed to go to a doctor. Ukitake had tried explaining his actions to her. He tried making her understand that he hadn't wanted to go to her brother, but that he cared too much about her to do nothing. She couldn't bring herself to understand.

He would never be able to forget her words.

I am not broken!

The few weeks following the incident, things had been somewhat unpleasant between the two. Rukia had felt betrayed. A person she trusted and looked up had gone behind her back. She was convinced that he thought she was weak.

But one day, things slowly started going back to normal between them. Ukitake eventually found out that Rukia had been seeing a psychiatrist. She had been diagnosed with PTSD. Rukia was now on medication and seeing a therapist regularly. Her brother made sure that stayed off the record. The medication had helped tremendously. She had made so much progress throughout the months. But it still wasn't enough. She still had nightmares. She was still fidgety. She barely ate. And now this...

Ukitake sighed. He looked over at the other desk in his office that had remained empty for decades. "What would you have done in this situation, Kaien?"


Rukia stared at the closed door. She wanted so badly to rush in and see her brother. She missed him so much.

She bit her lip.

Byakuya had been acting strange towards her for months now. It started off with him staying a little longer at work. But then he started making up excuses to have dinner in his room. He stopped looking at her. He stopped speaking to her. He stopped coming home altogether.

It didn't take her long to figure out why he didn't want to see her. It was because of how sick she was. She couldn't be around others without freaking out. She couldn't sleep without screaming at night. She needed medication to be normal. And he hated her for it. She was a Kuchiki. She was supposed to be strong. But she couldn't even perform an everyday task without the assistance of a prescription.

Maybe I should just leave these with the secretary, she thought.

"Come in, Rukia."

She looked up at the door, almost frightened.

He doesn't want to see me. I should just give him the papers and leave. That's all. Don't talk. You've already taken up so much of his time.

She entered. "Excuse me, Nii-sama. I have paperwork for you from Captain Ukitake."

Rukia went to his desk and set them down with shaky hands. She bowed and made her way to the door.

"Wait."

Her heart stopped. "Yes, Nii-sama. What is it?"

"The maid tells me you still have some medication left over."

"Yes, that is correct," she admitted shamefully.

"You should have finished those by last week. What happened?"

"I apologize, Nii-sama. I forgot to take them a few times. But, I will start remembering-"

"Be sure that you do. Those are very expensive, Rukia. Please listen to the doctor."

"Yes, I will. Is that all, Nii-sama?"

"Are they working?"

She almost choked. "What?"

He sighed. "Are all these pills working, Rukia? Are you sleeping better? Are you feeling better? Do I need to find a better doctor?"

She stared in disbelief. She couldn't believe that he troubled himself so much just to keep track of all of this.

"You have an appointment soon. Listen to everything that the doctor has to say. And be sure to keep track of your pills. If you do not, I will be forced to pull you out of work again."

"Yes, Nii-sama."

After that, neither of them knew what to say. It was awkward. Rukia decided to leave.

"Good bye, Nii-sama."

When the door closed, Byakuya sighed. He reached down to the bottom left drawer and took out a picture. His tired eyes stared almost longingly at the picture.

"Hisana, please forgive me," he whispered. "I don't know what to do. Because of my ignorance, I've started to ignore Rukia. What do I do? She needs me, but I can't bring myself to look at her. Not when she's like that. She's become sick. What if-"

Byakuya put the picture back and slammed the drawer shut. He cleared his throat.

Renji walked into the office.

"Renji, how many times do I have to tell you-"

"Yeah, yeah, sorry, Captain. I'll remember to knock next time."

"Just get to work, Renji."


"Matsumoto!"

Toshiro Hitsugaya was furious. It's been six months since Aizen's betrayal. Every division was still behind on everything - paperwork, reconstruction, you name it. But the Tenth Division was by far the most backed up. Not even the Fifth Division, who had no acting captain or lieutenant, was this backed up.

"Put that bottle of sake away and start doing your work! We are so far behind the other divisions and I can't continue doing both our work! Do you know how embarrassing it is to give our reports at the Captains' meetings?"

Rangiku slowly crawled on the floor, making her way to the door. She prayed that her captain would continue yelling so she could make it out of there before he noticed. She was at the door and started to open it. The yelling suddenly stopped. She had been caught, and she knew her life was about to end.

"Matsumoto!"

"Rukia-chan!" Rangiku couldn't believe the small girl's amazing timing. "What are you doing just standing there?"

Rukia looked down to see her friend on all fours. She would have raised an eyebrow, but the things Matsumoto did no longer surprised her. "I heard the yelling and I thought that I should-"

"Oh, really?" Rangiku shouted, startling the already scared girl. "Well, come in! Come in! Captain we have a visitor!"

Rukia panicked when his serious eyes came up to look at her. "Uh, sorry, Lieutenant M-"

"Rukia-chan! I told you a million times already! Just call me Rangiku!"

"Right, sorry. I wish I could stay but I really need to get going. Oh, my apologies, Captain Hitsugaya." She bowed. "Captain Ukitake asked me to bring you these." She walked over to his desk and handed him the papers. "Captain Ukitake said that the ones on the top need to be signed and turned in by tomorrow morning."

He took the documents with a sigh. The young captain gave her a nod. She took the silent gesture as a dismissal.

Rangiku panicked. Once Rukia left the office, her captain would continue yelling at her and force her to do her work.

"Hey, Rukia-chan, what's the rush? Why don't you stay awhile?"

She reached for Rukia's shoulder and turned her around. The sudden movement made Rukia dizzy. She felt bile rush to her mouth. But she held it in and tried to ignore the strange feeling.

"I'm sorry, Rangiku. I have to..."

Rangiku blinked. Rukia had suddenly stopped talking. She had a weird expression on her face.

"Rukia-chan?"

The young girl blinked. She had no idea what had just happened. She felt weird. It was a bad weird. Rukia knew she had to get out of there. "I'm sorry. I have to go."

Rangiku turned around and walked to the couch. "Aw, come on, Rukia-chan! You're no fun," she pouted.

Rukia's vision became blurry. She felt like there was a heavy weight on her lungs. She was so grateful when she felt the door. Her hand was trembling so much that she couldn't get a hold of it.

Then everything went blank, and she started to fall.

"Matsumoto!"

Before Rangiku could figure out why she was being yelled at again, Toshiro had shot up and flash-stepped to catch the falling girl.

"Rukia-chan!" Rangiku rushed over to her captain and looked at her best friend. She was scared, so scared that she was about to cry. "Captain-"

"Matsumoto, stay calm!"

Rangiku bit her tongue. She anxiously watched as her captain took Rukia's pulse.

She took several deep breaths. Repeated to herself over and over that her friend was alright. Everything would be alright.

"I can barely feel a pulse."

Rangiku's heart stopped. "What?" she shouted. Staying calm was completely out of the questions now.

"Matsumoto, there's no time for that! Go! Run ahead to the Fourth and tell them what's wrong! Go now!"

Rangiku, despite how scared she was, bolted out of the office and flash-stepped to the Fourth Division.

Toshiro scooped Rukia up into his arms and soon followed.


Rangiku felt relief that she had never felt before. She had finally arrived.

She burst through the doors. The once peaceful environment was gone. All you could hear was Rangiku's desperate cries for help.

Everything was in chaos. The moment Toshiro had set foot into the Fourth Division, a team of medics had taken Rukia away. Isane had come up to Rangiku and reassured her that everything would be ok, that they'd be done in no time.

That had been hours ago.

Rangiku paced around the hallway.

"What's taking so long? They should've been done by now. Why hasn't anyone come to tell us something? Anything! No, don't worry. They're probably just making sure she's ok. Yeah, that's it. Rukia's perfectly fine! She's strong."

"Rangiku!"

She looked up to see who had called her name. Her heart sank when she saw Renji. He looked so scared. When she saw Captain Kuchiki calmly following his anxious lieutenant, she couldn't stop herself from frowning.

A medic came up to Captain Kuchiki and bowed. "Captain Kuchiki, please come with me."

Byakuya started to follow the intimidated man. "Renji, stay here."

Renji bit his lip. He stopped walking and cursed. He wanted so badly to go along, to find out what was wrong with his best friend. He wanted to scream.

"Rangiku, what's going on? Someone barged into the office and told Captain that something was wrong with Rukia!"

She couldn't stop herself from crying. She didn't want to be the one to tell her friend that the little girl they loved was probably dying. "Renji, I don't know what happened! She came into the office to give some papers to Captain and she looked perfectly fine! But then she just passes out! She barely had a pulse! Isane is taking care of her. But they haven't told us anything since. They've been doing who knows what to Rukia-chan for hours!"

Renji wanted to get out of there. What Rangiku just told him made him feel as if he were trapped. He couldn't breath. "R-Rukia..."

Toshiro silently watched as the two tried to keep it together. He felt bad for them. He thought back to just a few days ago, when those two had barged into his office. They were drunk, but they were happy. He frowned as he thought about the two idiots. Sure they got on his nerves at times, but he admired the fact that a frown never crossed their faces, even during the rough times the Seireitei was facing. He'd never seen either of them like this.

This girl must be important to them.

He sighed. The only reason he was still there was because he didn't want to leave his lieutenant alone at a time like this. He had wasted enough of his time, he decided. "Matsumoto, I'm going back to the office. There's too much to do. I've stayed long enough. You can stay, but come back by morning."

She wasn't able to say anything. She simply nodded.


"Rangiku, Renji," Lieutenant Kotetsu called as she approached them.

Rangiku jumped up. "Is Rukia-chan ok?" she yelled.

Isane bit her lip. "Yes and no," she said sadly. "She's alive, but she hasn't woken up. She's in a coma."

Rangiku gulped.

"You can come and see her if you'd like," Isane said.

Rangiku nodded. That was when she noticed Byakuya coming down the hall. He had that same cold glare plastered on his face. Once he had passed them, Isane whispered, "He didn't even want to come in to see poor Rukia-chan. The one moment she truly needs him, and he does this. Come on. Rukia-chan can't do this on her own. She needs someone, and since her brother doesn't care, it has to be you two."

Both Renji and Rangiku prayed that Rukia was somehow miraculously ok. They walked into the room full of hope only to be disappointed. They came in to find Rukia asleep. She was surrounded by and hooked up to machines.

Renji couldn't look away from the mask covering half her face. Was that thing supposed to help her breath?

Rangiku let out a shaky breath. "You said she was in a coma? When do you think she'll wake up, Isane?"

"I don't know. Initially we thought something was wrong with her heart because she barely had a pulse when you brought her in. We had no idea what to do, so we ran several tests, hoping one would tell us what was wrong. But she suddenly stopped breathing and went into cardiac arrest. We shocked her, which thankfully worked. But she wasn't able to breathe on her own. So we then thought something was wrong with her lungs. No matter what scan or test we ran though, it didn't tell us what was going on with her. We were losing her, so we decided to open her up. Exploratory surgery was the last thing we wanted to do, but, at that point, it was our only option. We hoped that we could find the cause of the problem that all our tests had missed."

Isane's frown deepened. "We had been so wrong. When we opened her up, we found that everything seemed to be perfectly healthy. There was no internal bleeding, no trauma to any of her organs, let alone her heart or lungs. There was nothing to explain a sudden collapse, cardiac arrest, or the fact that she could no longer breath on her own. We double and triple checked everything and still found nothing. Right when we went to close her up, her heart stopped again. And then her perfectly healthy organs started failing. We could see them slowly dying inside of her. We had to figure something out quickly, otherwise her organs would die. But we didn't even know what was causing such bizarre symptoms.

"Nothing we could try was working. And we were nowhere near being able to make any sort of diagnosis. Even Captain Unohana had no idea what to do. She finally resorted to using a forbidden spell. She's only used it a few times. And each time, she's made sure no one was there with her, including myself. So I have no idea how the spell works. I'm just thankful that it worked. We closed Rukia up and started the healing process on her organs. So far, she is stable."

Rangiku and Renji were silent as they tried to take in all the information.

"Will she make it?" Renji asked.

"Nothing is certain at the moment. I want to say that she will, but..."

"Yeah, I get it."

"I'm sorry, but I have to go. I want to stay for her, but we still have a lot of work here to finish. I'll make sure Rukia-chan gets the best care possible."

She left.

Rangiku sighed. "Why does it always have to be Rukia-chan?"

"I ask myself the same thing everyday..."

"Hey, don't look so sad. What would Rukia think if she were awake?"

Renji looked at his lifelong friend. In all their years of friendship, he had never seen her in such a state. He knew Rukia would be mortified if anyone saw her like this. And he knew that Rangiku was right. The only thing Rukia would hate more than being seen in this state, was having people worry over her. She hated that.

He nodded. "You're right."

She sighed. "Are you staying?"

"Is that even a question? Of course I am."

She offered him a small smile. "Good. I know that Rukia-chan hates it when people worry about her. If she were awake, she'd tell us to go home and get some rest. I think, though, that deep down, she'd hope we'd stay. I don't think she likes being alone, especially in times like these."

"Yeah," he said with a small smile. "And even if she did want to be alone, I would stay right here. Because I know that if it were me in that bed, she'd be right by my side for as long as it took."

"And that's what we'll do," she agreed. "But knowing Rukia-chan, it won't be too long before she wakes up. She's too strong."

Renji exhaled deeply. Rangiku was right. Rukia was strong. Very, very strong. She was probably the toughest person either of them knew. She's been to hell and back. There was no way that whatever she was fighting would beat her. There was just no way.

Right?