After such a long and eventful day, you would think that sleep would come easily to you once you were finally in bed. However, in the case of Rukia Kuchiki, you would be wrong. After hours of tossing and turning, she finally gave up and sat up in her bed. She brought her knees to her chest and rested her chin on top of her knees. Rukia now stared at her closet.

A sigh.

Rukia stood up and went to open her closet. She moved her go-bag and a few boxes out of the way. She pushed her clothes aside. In the very back end of her closet was another box. She stared at it for a while until she built up the courage to take it out and open it.

She shook her head at herself. She knew she was being dramatic and she hated it.

Rukia went through the box until she found what she had been looking for. Her tired eyes stared intently at the small octopus plushie she held in her hands.

"It's for you. Take it."

"For me?" he asked as he took it. "Why? Don't you love these kinds of things?"

She nodded. "I do. But this one reminded me of you, so I wanted you to have it."

Rukia had buried memories like that one a long time ago. Looking back on them now, after so much time had gone by…

Normally, she would be sad. She used to obsess over these memories for hours until finally a thought would cross her mind. Usually it was something like, "Where did it all go wrong?" Sometimes, "Why did I do that?" or "I wish I could go back and do everything differently."

But this time she wasn't exactly sad. Not like before. These sweet memories still hurt, just a little less though. She wondered if that was a good thing.

An image of the pink haired recruit she had been helping that day popped into her head.

"The Third District, huh?" she whispered to herself wistfully.

Rukia had only spent a few days there. And it had been a very long time ago. But she could still remember every minute of those few days as if they had just happened. She smiled a small but genuine smile and Rukia let herself get lost in all of her sweet memories.

Again she shook her head and her smile was gone. With a heavy sigh, Rukia put the octopus back in the box. "I'm being so foolish. It's nothing but a coincidence. Thinking otherwise would just be...cruel. To me and to him."

With that, she shoved the box all the way to the back of her closet where she planned on it staying from now on.


She sat alone in the bar she frequented. It was slower than usual that night. It didn't help that it was getting so late.

Her finger ran along the rim of the glass in front of her. As she did this, she wondered how it was possible for it to be so damn quiet. She hated it.

"Just you tonight, Rangiku?" the bartender asked.

"Yup, just me." Rangiku swung her head back as she took down yet another drink. Her unsteady hand pushed her glass forward, signalling for the bartender to poor her another drink. Instead of drinking it though, she stared at it.

"I should...I should go home," she whispered to herself.

Right when she went to get up, her heavy eyes landed on the clock. It was midnight.

She sighed and she sat right back down. She raised her glass into the air almost mockingly.

"Happy Birthday, Gin."


There was a knock at the door.

Rangiku rolled her eyes. "The captain's not here!"

"Rangiku?" came Rukia's voice. "I'm coming in."

Rukia slowly peeked her head into the office. She saw her friend resting her head quite ungracefully on the desk.

The lieutenant sat up. "Oh, Rukia-chan, I didn't know it was you. What're you doing here?"

Rukia couldn't help but stare at the sunglasses her friend was wearing...indoors. "We were supposed to have lunch today, remember?"

Rangiku groaned. "I'm so sorry, Rukia-chan. I totally forgot!"

Rukia offered her friend a kind smile. "It's alright. I thought that might be the case, so I thought I'd bring you something." She held up two paper bags.

A small smile. "You shouldn't have, Rukia-chan."

That was when Rukia noticed it. Something was wrong. It had taken Rukia a moment to realize it, but something was definitely going on with her friend. She didn't know if she should bring it up or give it some time.

The two sat on the couch and ate their lunch. They tried making small talk, but for the most part, they were quiet. Rukia grew more and more worried. Something was definitely wrong, and the silence proved it.

Finally, Rukia asked, "What's with the sunglasses?"

To which her friend replied, "That's your favorite salad and you've just been picking at it. What's with that?"

Rukia blinked. She looked down at her food. She hadn't even noticed that she was, in fact, picking at her food. Leave it to Rangiku Matsumoto to notice these kinds of things.

"I asked first," Rukia said with a smile.

Rangiku sighed. She brought her arm up and took off her sunglasses to reveal her puffy, red eyes. "Thanks for not assuming I was hungover. I mean, I am. But I can handle a little sunlight. Your turn."

Rukia looked at her friend, her brows furrowed. "You're not going to tell me what's wrong?"

"Start talking and I'll see how I'm feeling after."

Now it was Rukia who was sighing. "I had wanted to keep my promotion quiet because I knew that some people wouldn't take it too well. But obviously, something like that can't stay quiet for too long. The rest of the division knows now and, as expected, some people are not too happy with the news."

"What do you mean?"

"There are rumors starting."

"Rumors? What're they saying?"

"So far I've heard that my brother must have pulled strings or bribed someone to get me this promotion. Someone said that it must be to make up for me almost being wrongfully executed." Rukia laughed bitterly. As if anything could make up for the consequences that followed her almost-execution. "Someone even petitioned to have me demoted at the Division meeting today."

Rangiku gasped. "No way! Who would do that?"

"Who else? It was Ikue."

Rangiku gasped even louder. "That witch who's always giving you a hard time?"

Rukia nodded.

"Wait! Wasn't she the fourth seat?" Rangiku was on her feet now.

"Yeah, she was. I knew she would be upset when she found out that I was the one that Captain Ukitake gave the position to, but I wasn't expecting her to make a scene at the meeting. In front of our entire division," she groaned. Rukia thought back to the events that had taken place barely an hour ago. She felt sick to her stomach.

"So what happened with her stupid petition?"

"She petitioned to have me demoted on the basis that I am too young and immature to be ready for the position, but she didn't have a single valid argument. Captain Ukitake threw her petition out. And when he did, he told her to go wait for him in his office."

"And what happened then?"

"Captain Ukitake told me to come with. He hoped talking it out would somehow fix everything. We both knew it wouldn't and I tried convincing him to not make me talk to that woman. But he really wanted to give her one last chance."

Rangiku scoffed. "That woman has been bullying you since you became a member of the 13th Division. How many second chances does she deserve?"

"She's been a member of the 13th Division for more than twice the time that I've been a shinigami. And she's been a seated officer for most of that time. It was more of a courtesy. Anyway, I tried talking to her and finding a way to resolve our issues, but she wouldn't listen. And then she accused me of manipulating Captain Ukitake into demoting her and giving me her seat. But that's not true! He had many reasons for demoting her. Her picking on me was just one of them."

"Just one of them? What else did she do?"

Rangiku noticed how her friend's leg began to shake at her question.

Rukia frowned and shook her head. "You can't tell anyone this." Rukia leaned in close and whispered, "After what happened six months ago, Captain Ukitake had some doubts about some members in our division. Three captains betraying the Soul Society can have that effect on you. He did some digging, and found…"

Rangiku looked at her friend. "What? Found what?"

"He found evidence to prove that two memebers of our division had been helping Aizen."

Rangiku gasped. "What did they do for him?"

A sigh. "One of them was in charge of finding me and then keeping an eye on me while I was in the World of the Living. He was the one who went to the Captain-Commander and presented the evidence of when I committed the crime of giving Ichigo my powers. And no one initially suspected him of working for Aizen because that area fell under the 13th's jurisdiction. Everyone assumed he had simply been doing a routine patrol. The other was in charge of keeping an eye on Captain Ukitake, Sentaro, and Kiyone. He was supposed to make sure they didn't do anything to stop my execution.

"When these men were interrogated, they both said they never reported to Aizen directly. They accused Ikue of being the person they reported to and took orders from."

"What?" Rangiku screamed.

"But there was never any evidence of that. Not a thing. Captain Ukitake conducted his own investigation into the matter. The only suspicious thing he found was that Ikue, after graduating from the Academy, had gone into the Fifth Division. But she was there for barely over two months before transferring to the 13th. He thought, maybe, Aizen had somehow gotten to her when she was a member of the Fifth Division. But what are the chances of that? It's hard to think that a woman so devoted to herself would give her loyalty to someone she maybe knew for two months."

"I know the chances are slim, but how could he trust this woman after two people accused her of working for Aizen?" Rangiku was in total shock.

"People lie, Rangiku. They were desperate for leniency and this was probably an effort to lessen their sentences. Besides, there was no evidence whatsoever to prove that these allegations were true. Even so, Captain Ukitake remained weary. He's kept a very close eye on Ikue since."

Rangiku made a worried face. "With something this serious, I hope he's had eyes on her everyday since these allegations came up."

Rukia nodded. "You're right. That's exactly what he's been doing. Captain Ukitake gave someone at the 13th the task of watching over Ikue. He's actually a good friend of mine. His name is Shunske." A sigh. "I don't know how I feel about him being tasked with something like that. But he was perfect for this mission. He had just been promoted to Fifth Seat when this was happening, so he and Ikue would be working closely together anyway. He had a reason to stay close to her. But in all their years of working together, he's never once seen or heard anything the slightest bit suspicious.

"Anyway, the accusations made against her along with her actions are why she was demoted. Captain Ukitake wanted to demote her a long time ago. He didn't like the idea of someone being in a position of power after being accused of something like that. But he didn't want to act without evidence. Her actions were the final straw. She provided the final nail for her own coffin I guess."

There was an awkward silence as the two processed this top-secret secret.

Rukia couldn't stand the silence anymore. "So when my 'heart-to-heart' with Ikue didn't work, Captain Ukitake said I could leave. He made Ikue stay, though. I don't know what happened after I left."

"That is just all so crazy! I mean being accused of something like that... Anyway, I hope Captain Ukitake teaches her a lesson! She was your superior. As a superior, you're supposed to help and guide your subordinates. And now that you're her superior, she's acting just as nasty. Maybe even worse. All she's ever done for you is give you trouble. Why does she hate you so much? It's not like you ever did anything to her."

Rukia paused. "Ikue has always disliked me. But it got worse when Miyako and Kaien-dono were killed. Because of Ikue's position and because she was Miyako's closest friend, she is one of the few people that know what actually happened on that night."

The image of her bloody and dying lieutenant flashed into Rukia's mind.

Rangiku didn't miss that pain that crossed Rukia's face. She put a hand on her friend's shoulder.

Rukia looked up and offered her friend a smile. "I'm ok." She took a deep breath. "At first, I just accepted Ikue's growing hate towards me. I used the believe that I deserved it," she said as looked at her hands. "But now, I'm really not sure why she hates me so much. Maybe she really does blame me for what happened to Miyako and Kaien-dono. Or maybe..."

Rukia bit her tongue and internally yelled at herself. She looked at her friend, who still didn't suspect anything of her sudden silence. Rukia was relieved. She hadn't noticed how much easier opening up to Rangiku had gotten. She had almost let it slip. She had almost told Rangiku one of the many secrets Rukia had vowed to never speak of again.

"Well, I'm not really sure. And I'll probably never know."

"That's just not right!" Rangiku cried.

Toshiro walked into the office to find Rukia sitting on the couch and his lieutenant shouting. He had no idea what had Rangiku so riled up this time, but he was slightly intrigued.

Rukia stood up to bow. "Good afternoon, Captain Hitsugaya. I apologize if we were being too loud."

A smile. Rukia was polite and respectful, the young captain noted. He liked that. It was a nice contrast to his own lieutenant. "That's alright. You two finish up. I seem to have walked right into the middle of something important."

"No, not at all, Sir!"

"Captain! You won't believe it! This witch over at the 13th, who has been tormenting Rukia-chan since forever, tried getting Rukia demoted today! In front of her entire division!"

Rukia winced. She really had not wanted anyone, especially someone like Captain Hitsugaya, to hear about this.

"Isn't there something that can be done about someone problematic like that, Captain?" Rangiku asked.

"It depends."

"Captain, this woman was Rukia's superior for years. She never once acted like it." Not to mention she may have worked for Aizen, she thought to herself.

"Wait a moment. This woman is a seated officer?"

"Yes, Sir, she is," Rukia answered.

"That's just unacceptable. A seated officer bullying a subordinate can easily be seen as an abuse of power. Is Captain Ukitake aware that this is going on?"

Rukia nodded. "Yes, Sir. He's spoken to her many times and even put her on probation once. She's relentless, though."

"I would have taken more serious measures by now. It's obvious there's no getting through to this woman."

"Captain Ukitake demoted her a couple weeks ago."

"And she is still picking on you?" he asked in total disbelief.

Rukia nodded. "I think it's given her even more reason to hate me."

"I think I'm gonna go give this Ikue a piece of my mind!" Rangiku growled as she cracked her knuckles.

"No!" her captain and Rukia shouted simultaneously. They knew that Rangiku was all too serious.

Rukia smiled at her friend. "Thank you, but I think I can take care of this myself."

Rangiku huffed. "Fine, but if this girl knows what's good for her, she'll stop before I make you take my help."

Rukia got the chills.

"Matsumoto, if I hear that you got into a fight…" Toshiro warned.

She laughed. "Oh, don't worry! I'd just like to have a little chat with this Ikue. Woman to woman. Whatever happens after our chat is completely up to her."

Toshiro looked up from the document he had been reading to glare at his lieutenant. "I'm serious."

Rukia stepped forward. "Don't worry, Sir. It won't come to that. I'll handle this myself and I'll make sure that Rangiku stays out of any trouble."

"But-" Rangiku tried to protest.

Rukia shot her friend a look.

Rangiku groaned. "Fine! I'll stay out of it!"

A sigh of relief. "Thank you," Rukia mouthed. With that, she started gathering her things. "I have to start heading back. We have some of the trainees cleaning up the around the barracks right now. I wanted to help them for a bit before going back to work. But I'll see you later tonight?"

Rangiku helped her clean up the coffee table. "Yeah, sure. What for?"

Rukia smirked. "Don't think I forgot what we were talking about earlier," she said as she picked up her friend's sunglasses and handed them to her.

The older woman smirked right back as she took the glasses and put them back on. "It's a date."


Aiko grunted as she dropped another box onto the floor. "I don't understand why they have us cleaning of all things! We're shinigami! Shouldn't we be training or patrolling or something? Anything would be better than dumping out all of these old, dusty boxes full of junk!" Aiko kicked the box she had just dropped. The box flipped over and all of its contents spilled onto the floor.

Haru, who had been sweeping, stopped. "Hey! I don't want to be here any more than you do. But if you keep this up, we'll never finish."

Ran started picking up the mess Aiko had made. "I understand what she means, though. I thought our careers as shinigami would be a little more...eventful."

Ran picked up a broken picture frame. She caught a glimpse of it right before she had tossed it back into the box. "Wait, what?"

The pink haired girl grabbed the box and looked for the picture frame. "Ow!" she exclaimed. She had cut her finger on the broken glass of the picture frame. She looked at her finger, which was bleeding a bit. Ran shook her head at herself before taking the picture frame out and taking a closer look at the old picture.

Haru and Aiko looked at her.

Ran was beaming. It's them! she thought.

"What is it?" Aiko asked. "Let me see." Aiko took the picture frame from Ran's hands. "Oh, that's why you're so happy. It's Kuchiki-dono."

"No, it's not that! Look at the man next to her! That's the man I saw her with in my village when I was younger!"

The three looked at the photo. A slightly younger Rukia stood next to an older, much taller man. She was smiling shyly, a small blush on her cheeks. The older man was grinning from ear to ear. His hand was ruffling Rukia's hair.

"What's his name?" Haru asked.

Ran shook her head. "I don't know. I don't remember."

Haru took the frame. "Maybe they wrote on the back of the picture." He took the photo out of its frame and looked at the back of the photo.

The two girls waited for him to say something.

"What is it?" Aiko asked when she saw the confused look on his face.

Haru looked at Aiko, and then at the back of the photo. He then looked at her again.

Aiko didn't like how much he was staring at her. "Can I help you?" she snapped.

"Sorry," he finally said. "The photo was folded in half. And there's a woman on the half that was folded back. I was just a little shocked because" - Haru unfolded the picture and showed the two girls - "you kind of look like the woman on the other half, Aiko. I thought for a second that was actually you."

Aiko's eyes widened. She snatched the photo out of Haru's hand. "Give me that!"

"I see what you mean, Haru. Aiko kind of does look like that woman. But Aiko's hair is a lot darkers. And her face isn't as narrow as that woman's," Ran noted.

Aiko just stared at the picture.

"I wonder why it was folded back like that," Haru wondered out loud.

"Hey, you three. How's it going down here so far?"

The three young recruits yelped and jumped up. They turned around to see Rukia walking up to them.

She giggled. "Sorry. I didn't mean to sneak up on you. Wow! I haven't seen the storage room so clean in... Well, ever," she laughed. Rukia noticed the photo in Aiko's hand. "What's that you got there?"

"Kuchiki-dono! Can you tell me who this woman is?" Aiko blurted.

Ran eyed Aiko for a moment. She had never seen her comrade like this. Aiko was always so calm and cool.

Haru didn't miss the look that crossed Rukia's face when she saw the photo. However, Rukia was quick to conceal her emotions. He couldn't tell what it was that Rukia was feeling.

"Where did you find this?" Rukia breathed.

"It was in a box that fell over," Haru answered. "That's you in the picture, right?"

Rukia almost missed the question. She had been so focused on the picture. "Yes..."

"And who are those people with you?" Haru didn't miss how her eyes glossed over.

"They were very close friends of mine. Their names were Kaien and Miyako Shiba-"

"Shiba? Miyako Shiba?" Aiko repeated. "W-Who is she? Is she also a member of the 13th Division?"

If they couldn't tell Rukia was upset before, they definitely could now.

"Aiko!" Haru hissed. He was mortified at how badly Aiko was reading the situation.

Rukia tried hiding how fazed she was. "She was. She was the third seat a long time ago. But Miyako and Kaien-dono were both killed by a hollow decades ago."

"Kuchiki-dono, I'm so sorry," Haru said.

Rukia offered the boy a small smile. She turned to Aiko. "When I first saw you, I thought for a moment that I was dreaming. Or going insane," she laughed. "You look so much like Miyako from afar. But not so much up close. Your eyes are bigger and your hair is definitely darker."

"Miyako Shiba…?" Aiko whispered.

"I'm sorry, but do you think I could have that?" Rukia asked, pointing at the picture in Aiko's hands.

Aiko looked at Rukia and back at the picture. Her hold on it grew tighter.

Haru looked at his friend. Why wasn't she handing over the picture? The more seconds that passed, the more Haru became appalled at how insensitive Aiko was being. He finally took the photo from Aiko's hands and gave it to Rukia, who was completely oblivious to the last few seconds of tension.

"Thank you. You said this was in a box? Do you think I could have that, too? I would really like to look through it."

Ran nodded. She brought the box to Rukia. "Here you go."

Rukia couldn't wait and so she began to look through the box. Ran and Haru were shocked to see a tear falling down Rukia's cheek as she picked up item after item. Aiko was still zoning out.

Rukia sniffed and wiped her tears with her sleeve. "I'm sorry. These were all Kaien's things," she explained. "He was someone very dear to me."

"Don't apologize, Kuchiki-dono. I can't even begin to imagine what it is that you're feeling right now," Haru said.

Rukia picked up the box. "Sorry, you three. I came down here to help and I just ended up taking up your time. But thank you. Thank you so much for finding this. Oh! And don't forget you guys are on patrol tonight. I believe old man Fujihara is going to be your instructor tonight. He's tough, but he loves trainees. Good luck!" With that, Rukia left the trainees to finish their chores.

Haru turned to Aiko. "Aiko!" he snapped. "What is wrong with you? Why did you ask Kuchiki-dono all these questions when it was obvious that it was a very touchy subject. Her friends are dead and here you are asking question after question!"

"Haru, calm down. I would be a little freaked out too if I was the mirror image of someone who's been killed," Ran said in an attempt to defend her friend.

"I get that, but God! That was just so insensitive! Aiko, are you even listening to me?"

Haru and Ran looked at Aiko. Aiko's brows were furrowed and she was chewing on her bottom lip. She had barely heard the two as she was so lost in thought.

Haru rolled his eyes. "Unbelievable!" he exclaimed.

Ran became worried. She gently shook Aiko out of her trance. "Is everything alright?"

Aiko looked at her for a moment. "Can I tell you two something?"