"Where is Chryse now?" Tosen asked. He had remained silent through Stark's recounting of the battle in the Valle de Las Almas.
"I left him for the Hollows to consume." The image passed through his mind's eye. Chryse broken and bleeding in the sands, his mask cracking when Stark turned away. Even so, his legs were incinerated. He couldn't rise even if he tried.
"Aizen-sama won't be pleased. He wanted him."
Want?
Stark questioned the nature of Aizen's want. Greed for power? For the more unusual aspects of Chryse's apparent abilities? To find a new Primera? Whatever. It didn't matter.
"He didn't deserve to live." Stark said shortly, deciding the interview was at an end. Turning to leave, he halfway thought the Director General might stop him. "I'm going to look for Rukia." You, least of all, aren't going to stop me.
But, Tosen said nothing, letting him go.
Outside, he met Ulquiorra. The Cuatro was dressed immaculately in a white gi jacket, coattails, white hakama secured by a black sash. "Where is she?" Inflectionless, only the gaze he leveled at Stark betrayed anything.
Oh, that's right. You can't sense her either. Almost as if...his throat tightened on the unnameable. "She disappeared into Menos Forest." No, that's not quite it. Her own attack hit her. What was it...? Winter's Shadow. "The Hollow we were looking for, wanted a show of strength. I fought him and Rukia ...," what? Tried to help me? Thought she could protect me? How foolish. He ran his fingers through his hair. "Chryse reversed her reiryoku attack and it hit her."
Ah, there. A slight flinch. Then, anger hardened green irises. "Where is this Hollow?"
"Gone."
Stark walked past him, stopped only by the grasp of nails piercing his wrist through the glove. "What were you doing?"
I was occupied. My hands were bound with Kido. Chryse thought he could incinerate me with his flashy tricks.
"I'll find her."
"You're undeserving of your rank, Primera. You couldn't even ensure she didn't come to harm."
"You say that," a low growl issued from his throat. "And you don't even know how close she's come to dying-" astonishment glimpsed. He sensed Ulquiorra's thought process, logical mind running. "Antenor," Stark spat the name like bile. "thought to prove loyalty to Aizen and kill Ichimaru's murderer. Rukia put him in her place by herself." And the Director General didn't punish Luppi either.
"She was already injured from the Grand Fisher when he did that! And where exactly were you?"
"Excuses, trash."
Stark glared at him, "you would say that, bastard."
I need to leave.
Who won the battle? Chryse or did he decide he was satisfied with supposing me dead. Again, she thought, smiling humorlessly. Not this time.
Stark...was he okay? Frustrated, she strapped her zanpakuto over her shoulder. Rukia hadn't wanted to admit it even to herself, the degree of concern she felt for that big idiot. Her back ached from the initial collision, she had lost the ribbons from her hair but was otherwise unharmed. Inspecting Sode no Shirayuki, she discovered the scabbard had cracked, the blade remained highly polished with a hint of cold to the metal.
"You said it was a few days journey to Menos Forest...," she said, catching his attention. Ashido had been forming various hand seals, weaving together a basket from coarse grass. "What about the place where I fell in?"
"It's sealed over. Anything you do to the Menos Forest fixes itself. It's just something that occurs naturally. I can't explain it."
Rukia propped her hand on her hip. "Fair enough. I can't obligate you to come with me, so I guess...," this is goodbye.
He set the basket aside, rising. "No, you need a guide. I'm familiar with the forest. The unsuspecting can run into pockets of Adjuchas class Hollows. The forest resembles a nest in many respects."
"I noticed," she couldn't help from smiling. "And thanks for rescuing me before. Maybe I'll have a chance to repay the debt by the time we're out of here."
Sound carried into the cave of glistening stone. There were many dotting the sekkiseki cliffs. Chryse touched his hand to the crack running across the remaining eye socket of the mask. It had shattered, exposing part of his cheek, thin nostril to the forehead. He had regenerated his body with effort, sacrificing his front legs for regenerative properties.
The Primera had done a number on him, slamming balas into his face - he smiled faintly. Despite that, it had felt wonderful to pit his strength against one of Aizen's creations. Footsteps rang out in the distance.
"Another of Aizen's pets?" Chryse had barely sensed the approach of the Arrancar. He glanced him over, studying the slight size, black hair, green eyes. The teal sword slung through the sash reminded him of the Shinigami. He had an air about him - an almost human-like stare.
"Come to finish the job?"
"Not yet. Answer me this, you are the one who calls himself Chryse?"
"Yes, who are you?"
"Ulquiorra, Cuatro Espada."
Chryse sat on a low boulder. His equine legs at odds with the torso of a human male. Ulquiorra could see his evolution in a string of guises. Nearly Vasto Lordes, almost Arrancar wrapped in the same being. His energy had a calmness to it belying his origins.
"When you attacked the Shinigami who was with the Primera, did she die?" Those words, his answer the most important of all. Failing Rukia, given her brushes with true demise. This time, if her death was confirmed, he wouldn't hold back. He'd finish what the trash had neglected to finish.
"I can see you bristle with indignation on her behalf," Chryse commented drolly. "You'll be glad to learn that she hasn't ceased to exist. I told your comrade she had risked her life for his, not that she died."
"If you speak the truth, then why can't I sense her anywhere?" Ulquiorra took a single step forward, heightening his reiatsu threateningly.
"I don't know. She fell. Her power is frightening...the oblivion of nothingness. I don't think she realizes the kind of power she holds."
Rukia...he hadn't expected praise for her. "I should have your head for hurting her."
"But, you're not going to do anything."
He said nothing to this, gauging the Hollow's depth perception. Chryse thought he had him figured out. A mistake if he had ever seen one.
"I can possibly find her if she's that important to you." Chryse gestured palm up. He had fine hands, the traces of an aristocratic bearing. "Your comrade had very little desire to fight me. I could sense the apathy in his blade. Once the Shinigami became involved, his blade cried for blood. She must be special indeed to have inspired you to seek me out. Maybe I should take an interest in her." Chryse finished, smiling.
"Look to your own," Ulquiorra advised, lessening his reiatsu. "What are your goals in connection with Aizen-sama?"
"I don't know either. I haven't decided whether or not to join him. He seems presumptuous in his desire to rule the heavens. But, let me ask you this, if Aizen Sosuke should fail, what will you do?"
What's my contingency plan?
At one time, he had thought to leave her with her own kind - then, barring that, she had chosen of her own will to come with him. But, if all the world was against them, even in some small part of his mind, he knew logically Aizen was doomed to fail. As much as he played the role of subservient warrior, he didn't trust him, enough so that he kept his Segunda Etapa a secret. Rukia knew or could guess as much. Aizen had promised a better world for the Arrancar, though he hadn't been able to imagine a world of that kind.
"Those plans are my own."
"Okay, fair enough."
Then, he considered the notion he had put aside since the day Aizen had sent Stark to threaten Rukia. Killing him.
"Have you ever seen Aizen's sword?"
"No."
"Then, let me say this. If you fight him, do not let him draw his sword or activate its shikai."
Chryse's finely arched brow tilted. "Why?"
"The power is illusory. It befuddles the mind."
"Thanks for the warning, but, why should I trust you?"
"Whether you do or don't, I don't care." He turned to leave. "You said you could find her?"
"It's possible. I haven't actively sought her out. One other thing, how did you find me?"
Ulquiorra had already walked away, "you're inhabiting the former domains of the Espada. This was mine, briefly."
"Is Soul Society different?"
They had been walking innumerable miles it felt. He had suggested they reserve shunpo for above in case in trouble.
"I...wouldn't think so," Rukia chose her words with care. He had come from a different era than her. Many of the barbarous practices from back then had been discontinued. "That must be painful, everybody you once knew is gone by now." Glancing at him sideways, she wondered if he'd had a wife, children, a lover, friends outside the surveyor party? He had probably had a Taichou he respected, someone who mourned for him when they didn't return.
"Why did you stay?" Rukia formulated the question with difficulty. "I know the pathway is difficult to Hueco Mundo...," she herself had utilized a rarely used Kido spell to open the portal. Kaien had shown her the mechanisms of the spell weeks before the fateful mission and Miyako's death. Everything from that time had become a blur in her memory, she couldn't fully recall the incantation or the spell number.
"I wanted to protect the living world. Staying here, slaying Hollows," the weariness of years clouded his voice.
"That was your reason? I'm sorry to say the amount of Hollows in the living world has only increased rather than decreased."
"What?" His eyes widened. "How can that be?"
Rukia shook her head slightly, her hair bun swaying with the motion. "I don't know either. I've been to the living world and to Soul Society, but haven't seen any outright concern for the increased Hollow incursion."
Does it have something to do with Aizen? Did Ashido known Aizen when he was younger? Frustratingly, she didn't know how long Aizen had been a Shinigami. I wonder if I should...no, Ashido seemed forthright. He would never ally himself with a Hollow.
"It's not much farther to the entrance."
She looked up surprised. "How can you tell?"
"The air...it's getting thicker. Rukia, there's something I would like to show you. It's not too far in the forest."
"Alright."
The gravestones were arranged in a rough semicircle.
"This place...?"
"This is where we entered Hueco Mundo. We knew where we were, we thought...," Ashido couldn't speak for a moment. His throat had closed up over the simple words. They had thought so many things. Believed they were death-gods, invincible. "We kept fighting, attracting several Menos Grande to the area. Their ceros killed almost everyone except for me and one other. Now there's only myself left." Rukia had stayed silent, her gaze lowered to the makeshift markers.
"When you told me about the increased Hollows in the living world, I had hoped the opposite would be the case. Not because I thought I was doing well, only 'cause I wanted something good to tell them."
"I'm sorry, I wish it wasn't the case. The Hollows seem to be growing stronger, evolving faster than before."
Ashido nodded slightly, looking down at the mask in his hands. It had come from the Hollow who had slain his friend. He had carried it all that time to remind him of his purpose for being there. Now, after meeting Rukia, he found his resolve shaken. He hadn't realized how much he had missed hearing another voice, especially a woman's."
"Those white garments, did you come from Las Noches?"
"I can't answer that," Rukia said, her tone suggesting she'd rather change the subject.
"Chryse told me many powerful Hollows were gathering in Las Noches. He said they would come for him soon."
"What do you think of Chryse?" She asked, averting her gaze from his probing look. Ashido decided to let it slide for the sake of argument, though he found it difficult to believe a Shinigami - any Shinigami would choose to ally themselves with a Hollow. And for what purpose?
"He's still my enemy, though his influence has made it easier for me to traverse the forest."
"What do you mean?"
"He converts the Hollows to his side and takes them from here. He has killed some who resisted, those were unusual in that they could summon Menos Grande to help them fight in battle." Ashido saw her pale and wondered how much more she wasn't letting on. "Chryse's ultimate purpose, I would hesitate to guess on. My theory is that he plans on dividing the Hueco Mundo proper into separate territories, diminishing the fights among common Hollows for domains."
Establishing a kingdom? She had heard of Barragan's attempts to form a Kingdom of Hollows ruled over by him. His roofless palace where Las Noches once stood and his attempts by force to coerce other Hollows to join him. But, Chryse was different. If anything, he seemed to be killing only Aizen's Hollows, those Adjuchas put into place to watch over the forest. "I don't like this. The Hollows of today are different than the ones we've fought for a millennia," she meant as a whole, noticing Ashido glanced at her almost distrustfully. If he suspected her point of destination, well it was just too bad.
By silent consent, they resumed walking.
Lost in her thoughts, they had gone some way before he signaled to her to stop. Sensing nothing, Rukia gestured, let's go.
He shook his head, indicating silence.
Looking past the thick trunks, she glimpsed red. Hurrying forward, she stopped short of a massacre. Bone, bits of mask, blood, copious quantities of it splashed the ground and surrounding trees. "Who did this?" She could still sense a remnant of spirit pressure lingering. Ashido went around her, kneeling beside the puddle. Glancing around, he noted the trajectory of the attack.
"We should go. I don't think this was Chryse's doing."
"Then, you're sure he's still alive?"
"I never doubted it." As he spoke, she glimpsed the surprise on his face. Half-turning, she dropped into a sweeping motion, fingers grasped tight around her sword's hilt. The Hollow had appeared out of nowhere, lancing the ground with its punch. In a milisecond after the ground had erupted in a fine spray of soil, she had slashed through it, ending its garbled shriek of dismay.
"A nest!"
"Yeah," Ashido shunpo'd to her side, raising the Hollow mask like a shield. "Seems like someone wanted this nest for themselves."
She felt them suddenly, rushing through the forest, malevolence like a descending cloud. Something had drawn them there, whether the scent of blood spilt or suddenly they became aware of their presences. The light of a cero scorched the ground near her. The next one, she deflected with her blade edge. In the next instant, she saw them fully. Multiple Hollows swarming from the tree tops, around the boughs. Bird Hollows, pig Hollows, lizards and centipedes. She saw them all in a flash, backing up against Ashido. Somewhere the ground shook beneath a giant step.
"What'll we do now?!"
"Fight, make it hell for them to get their next meal!"
There seemed no end to them. Slashing, occasionally firing off kido whenever one got too close. Rukia appreciated more fully her sparring with Neliel. She had limbered up, was faster in reacting to attacks. Small fry like the ones who had come for them, were no match for her or Ashido. If only there weren't so many.
"Rukia!" Ashido called out in warning.
Rukia turned too late. A large carrion crow swooped down from a branch above. Talons outstretched, it meant to make quick work of her tender flesh. Struggling to raise her sword, she wondered briefly if after everything, this was her fate to die at the hands of a Hollow...like Kaien. Her lips twitched into a faint, grim smile.
It was somehow fitting, she thought, never expecting the blast of blue blurring her sight into an oblivion of screams. She twisted around, her face lit up. "Stark?!" His familiar spirit pressure hummed against her body, filling the forest with its potency.
White moved past her. She felt his hand fall upon her shoulder. "Next time and all the other times after that, when we're on mission, don't leave my side."
She felt her face warm up. "What do you mean, fool?"
"Just what I said," he fired off cero from the tip of his chin. Ashido shunpo'd between the trees, evading the arc of light. She watched the Hollows disappear into it, their forms dissipating into ash.
"Let's go-" home, she thought he meant to say. Home. A place of belonging. That sounded nice. Rukia tilted her head up to regard Stark's calm expression. He had slaughtered some of their own, those loyal to Aizen, installed within. He didn't care. She had forgotten something - Ashido wouldn't understand Stark's appearance let alone as an ally. "Stop!" He was faster than her. The tip of the zanpakuto flashed. Ashido's ragged cloak floated around his body. He had stabbed Stark through the back, the tip of the blade emerged through his chest in a shower of blood. The Primera scowled; raising his free hand to the wound. Ashido withdrew the sword, growling, "get away from her."
"Ashido, no!"
She felt her feet lift off the ground. Stark flung her aside. Rukia spun through the air, stunned. Righting her body, she skated to a stop. "Stark! Wait! Wait!"
Don't kill each other.
Please.
Ashido charged at him, slashing midway across the torso. Stark vanished, reappearing behind him. Brief astonishment crossed Ashido's face. He was used to the strength of an Adjuchas, slaying Gillians was easy. But, this - she knew he was outmatched easily. Blue cero formed at the tips of Stark's fingers. Rukia dashed forward, throwing her weight against Ashido. Together, they spilled to the ground, the cero missing them by inches.
"You little idiot!" Stark snapped, "I could've killed you!"
Ashido pushed off her grappling hands, searching for his zanpakuto.
"Don't move," Rukia threatened, ignoring Stark. She had drawn Sode no Shirayuki forth, the edge inches from slicing across his chest. Ashido stared at her like she was crazy. "You're the most contradictory Shinigami I've ever known. You save me then you threaten to kill me all for...," - slowly, his gaze slid over Stark's face, his careful measuring of the situation to her grim determination.
"Don't tell me," Ashido's respect for her lessened. He's the one you found...the one who made you want to live. A Hollow...he breathed a soft snort. After the centuries spent in Hueco Mundo, he thought he had seen everything.
"Think what you want. You saved me, I saved you, we're even." Rukia said carefully, her eyes cold. Then, she added softer, lowering the sword. "Take care."
Stark glanced to her, "you're just letting him go?"
"Why not?" She snapped, her eyes challenging, swiveling his way. Stark held his hands up, palms out. "Just saying. I didn't mean anything by it."
"You better not have," she muttered under her breath. His arm slipped around her shoulders almost intimately, then they were gone from the sight of the Shinigami.
He felt her fist thump his side. They were almost within sight of the entrance to the forest. Stark lessened his speed accordingly. "What is it? You don't want to go after the Shinigami, do you?" He had sensed the unknown Shinigami in ragged clothes, moving farther away, going deeper into the forest until he had nearly disappeared from range.
"No! You're injured, fool!"
"Oh?" He glanced at his stained front to his glove smeared red. "I'll be fine."
"No, you won't! You're bleeding -" she slipped out from under his arm, latching onto his tunic. Grasping handfuls of cloth, she forcibly yanked him down to her height. "You're not invulnerable, you know."
How well he knew. He hadn't meant to let the Shinigami get the drop on him, but somehow Rukia had been more important. It's strange, he thought, mildly interested in watching her rage about, throwing her hands in the air about stubborn Hollows, how he had awakened during the fight with Chryse, but now, the only thing he had thought of was ascertaining her safety. Protecting her. Putting his arms around her to make sure she had stayed in one piece.
"Besides, I could've handled it myself."
"Sheesh."
"Was that sarcasm?"
"Nope."
Her eyes flickered from the fingertips clutching his shirt front to his face above her.
"Rukia-"
He sensed the third presence before the green-eyed Cuatro appeared. "Ulquiorra." Acknowledgment. Then, a different reiatsu encroached, one that shook the ground, brightened the gloom of Menos Forest. Chryse followed closely behind Ulquiorra. His speed blurring similar to Shinigami technique. Chryse hardly looked at Rukia, though Stark noticed, he seemed intensely aware of her presence. "I told you the forest floor acts as a kind of barrier to the pesquisa."
Ulquiorra simply hnned at this. His primary focus was Rukia, who started from Stark's side. "You-" almost frightened seeing Chryse then relief like the sun breaking through cloud cover. A blissful smile.
"Back from the dead, I see." Stark levied the comment to the Hollow, almost sneering.
"No thanks to you. I forgot to mention I'm difficult to kill."
"Yeah, next time," he yawned elaborately because that was what they expected him to do. Stark averted his eyes away from Rukia returning to the Cuatro's side."Stay dead."
Chryse soon left them. Rukia was glad of that, her gaze straying to his slightly swaying form, the bent back and long legs of a horse ending in polished black hooves. Sometime after the battle, his mask had cracked revealing part of the human face beneath. In his case, she had been horrified to realize it was wholly familiar like a face from an old photograph, seen a few times but never known in the afterlife. Her curiosity remained fueled by his anonymity. Once, Chryse had been someone else of that she was sure of. He was almost...but she cowered from the truth, suspecting her thoughts weren't far from reality.
"Did you ask him to find me?"
"I went to him for answers. No one could sense your reiatsu until a while ago."
She sighed, reflecting that at least she could keep up with his sonido. "What did he say?"
"He claimed you had survived."
Stark lagged behind, eyes closed allowing his senses to guide him. Rukia glanced over her shoulder, rolling her eyes discreetly. "I suppose he's good for something." Ulquiorra followed her look. "Oh, no, Chryse I meant."
"You've noticed it as well then...his abilities resembling a Shinigami." It was no question.
"He uses kido." Rukia muttered, lowering her voice. "I've never seen a Hollow use it before."
"That isn't all. His speed resembles your variant of shunpo, his reiatsu detection abilities are through the senses instead of through our use of pesquisa. By sending out a radiating pulse, we're able to determine an opponent's amount of reiatsu. The Quinta is especially adept in discerning another's amount of reiryoku."
Rukia shivered, grimacing. "I wouldn't have thought he specialized in reiatsu detection. Good to know. But, with Chryse, who do you think he is?" It was crazy her own opinion. She knew she'd feel a lot better if he shared it even if the identity was lacking.
"He's a former Shinigami. If I had to guess his strength, I would pinpoint it between Taichou and Fukutaichou. In the future, he may become a dangerous adversary or a useful ally."
Rather than say more, she drifted closer until they were side by side, running across the desert.
Stark wasn't surprised to see Neliel pacing outside the bounds of his palace. Scarcely glancing her way, he strode past her, tracing the code into the panel. "Is Rukia okay? Where did you find her?"
"If you were so concerned, why didn't you wait outside the Cuatro's palace?"
"You know why," Neliel snapped, her shimmering sea foam green hair flowing around her shoulders. Stark listened to the sound of the door de-pressurizing, retracting into the wall, wishing uselessly that they'd all leave him alone now. The feelings he'd had after seeing her alive - relief, a light effervescent feeling had disappeared. Stark's chest felt leaden, his head hurt dully. Triaged quickly by one of the medic Arrancars, he had refused to look back into Rukia's eyes.
"You're not fine."
"I said I am!"
The ghost-like sensation of her punch to his jaw.
No pain, only futility.
One day, he'd be cut by a Shinigami. The invasion was inevitable, a fact of his existence and an hourglass of sand trickling days, years into something coherent.
Stay with me. Every mission we're together. Stay beside me.
"Fine!"
Roughly removing the tunic, parting the zipper, exposing his empty chain of fate and the jaw bone decorating his throat.
Damn.
He felt like letting loose, punching something.
That wasn't like him. What was wrong with him?
He could sense quite strongly Lilinette's obvious irritation at being away from him and too she had likely felt his injury through their bond. "I used to be Tercera and he couldn't have said anything to my requests. With him here, I can't even speak to Rukia."
"It's because she's a Shinigami. Ichimaru was always accessible, I suppose back then, if you could stand him." Actually, I think he doesn't trust her safety around the other Hollows. Any common Hollow automatically would think of her as food first.
"Please, he was a creep and I'm glad he's gone." Came her retort. "Besides, Rukia's different. I wanted to tell her I had found a suitable Numero to lead the Exequias."
"Well, you can tell her now." He muttered, vanishing into the pillow palace leaving Neliel to glare at his retreating back.
After a long hot shower, Rukia finally began to feel almost human again. Almost, she smirked faintly, wrapping herself in a thick bathrobe. Her thoughts inevitably turned toward the Shinigami from Soul Society's past. Ashido. His expression, the look of betrayal, disgust, aversion when he spoke. He had thought Stark...of course he hadn't seen Ulquiorra. He couldn't have known how wrong he was concerning the Hollows. Well, some Hollows.
Padding barefoot into her room, she selected a plain sheath dress with a wrapped skirt over black stockings and sandals with pointy covered toes. Dressing quickly, she glanced to the door, feeling the slight hum of spirit pressure through the connecting corridor and rooms. No more missions...? Given the relaxed state of his energy, she surmised he hadn't received any countermanding orders.
Depositing the towel from her hair on the bathroom floor, she considered asking him to spar with her. It would be the perfect opportunity to work out the nervous frustration in her system. Sparring with Nel Tu helped, but it wasn't the same. Halfway to the door, she felt a pulse through her forehead. An electrical tingle that set her on edge. She recognized it for what it was. Synchronized consciousness.
"I see you've returned, Kuchiki-san. Hale and whole, I gather? Come to the antechamber of the audience hall. I wish to speak with you."
Aizen called.
Sliding her zanpakuto through the slender black belt at her waist, she walked calmly through the palace, pausing for a moment inside his room. He sat on the edge of the bed, polishing his sword with a square of yellow cloth. "I'm sorry," she offered. Seems like something's always keeping us apart.
A glance and she turned away.
"I have asked to be taken from the mission to watch over Kurosaki."
What?
"In your absence, the Director General was in charge of Las Noches. He has granted it as far as I know."
She tried to find a smile from her borrowed collection. "See if I don't get sent on a mission to Soul Society now."
An almost smile, drifting toward a smirk. "The Primera can handle it."
I hope so.
She could scarcely tear her gaze away from him, remembering the haste-filled kiss brought a deep flush to her face.
"I'd better hurry." She shunpo'd quickly, seeing few Arrancar roaming the hallways. Outside the door, she paused and tried to compose herself. A few minutes. Maybe a mission briefing. She had hoped Stark would say nothing of Ashido, knowing they had been meant to find him all along and quell his status as a potential threat. Or she was worrying for nothing.
She tapped the code in, announcing, "Rukia entering."
Silence, then the panel retracted to reveal a glass-fronted room. Aizen sat before an immense plated glass bay window overlooking the desert.
"Come, sit, sit."
Rukia glanced mistrustfully to the offered seat. "Thanks." She replied tartly. "I prefer to stand."
He said nothing to that, smiling faintly as the servant bent, pouring a stream of fragrant tea into two porcelain mugs.
"I think over these past two years, you've proven yourself in more ways than one."
She shifted from foot to foot, staying at the edge of the plush rug at his feet. "Your point is?"
"I think a promotion is in order."
Rukia's face remained expressionless. The very thing she wanted - offered to her on a silver platter. "Why?" This had to be a test. Ichimaru from everything she had discovered; had been Aizen's henchman for over a century. She certainly didn't have the capacity for Taichou.
"Oh, conveniently placed. It's fitting to your status. Kuchiki-Taichou would be pleased."
A sour taste filled her mouth. "Please. If you think to appeal to my vanity-"
"Not at all. You yourself suggested preparation once during a meeting."
Her eyes widened as the import sunk in. "The records...,"
"I need you to get them for me."
Her mind worked quickly. He squeezed the juice from a lemon wedge into the liquid.
"What about Hinamori?"
The clink of a spoon interrupted the silence. "I don't think so. Her loyalty is unquestionable, but I would rather her stay where she is. You, on the other hand, have been neglected in the Thirteenth Division for too long. The badge of Fukutaichou rank belongs on you, Kuchiki-san."
Kaien...his place. She couldn't deny the sudden surge of longing. Promotions happened once every ten years. She would never know if one had been coming her way after Kaien's death, but she reflected sadly. No one had ever given her the time of day until he had taken her under his wing.
"Surely Ukitake would have objections." Rukia began weakly, wondering if that's all there was to it. He could make her a Fukutaichou. If he could, then the future- I have one. Maybe.
"They can be swept aside. You'll be recommended by Hisagi-san, Hinamori-chan and Kira-kun."
She tilted a brow, "do I have a choice?"
"It's all up to you." He sipped the tea.
She struggled to rein in her feelings. "Am I...Fukutaichou material?" The worst person to ask as all means are to an end, but, still. "I don't want it if I'm unworthy of the position."
A little surprised, he set down the cup with a clink. "My dear, Kuchiki-san, you are forever challenging my assumptions of you!" Frowning at his brevity, she looked hard at his smile. "What do you mean now?!"
"No offense meant. I simply offered you a position and you're worried about your personal worth. Any other, I assure you, would dance with the devil himself in order to advance." Aizen's brown eyes held her. Rukia unwillingly stared him back.
"You're pure, Rukia. There's no greed in your heart, that's why the Arrancar are drawn to you."
Ulquiorra...Nel Tu...Stark. Even Wonderweiss showed her favoritism. If he wasn't following Tosen, he was with her.
Embarrassed, she looked away. "I just wanted a simple answer, damn you."
"Then, you have it."
- TBC
AN: Thanks for reading!
No flames please.
Reviews loved ^-^