◊ (Revelations) ◊

∆ (Rukia's Office) ∆ - ¤ (Weeks Later) ¤

"Rukia?"

"Yeah Kiyono?" I answered while continuing to write papers and figure out information.

"I was wondering if you've seen Micah." Kiyono asked me.

"Micah?" I asked.

"My girlfriend," I looked up and smiled.

"Well good for you," I said. "Well I haven't seen anyone around here all day sorry."

"It's fine. I wonder if she's doing alright."

"What do you mean?"

"She was attacked by some stranger in an alleyway and I told her not to leave the building and she did. I hope she's okay."

"I do too." I stood up and grabbed my wooden Zapakuto.

"What are you doing?"

"Doing my job." I said.

"Your job?"

"Of course, the 13 division is to take care of breaks in defense within Soul Society and clearly this person isn't a Shinigami so it's my job to take care of it, is it not?" I asked.

"I guess," He said.

"Then we should go." I said.

"Alright, on your orders Captain." He said bowing.

"Cut it or I'll have to hurt you." I said then gave him a smile and ran off with him following behind me.

"Kuchiki-taichou, we have…"

"A break in security, yes I know. Thank you for the alert, Hitsuguya-taichou." I said and ran off.

"You do know that you have lower ranked Shinigami to take care of this first, right?"

"I know, but there has already been an assault and I plan to stop it here."

"Who?"

"Kiyono-fukitaichou's girlfriend, she's been gone way too long. I believe it's a kidnapping." I said running off.

"Good luck, and if you can't handle it. Call for back up." I stopped and turned around.

"I'm a captain now, don't worry about me. I also have my lieutenant with me. I'll be fine and thanks for worrying." I said as I flash stepped off and I was gone.

I looked around until I found the alleyway that Kiyono said was where she was attacked the first time. I looked around for a clue.

Then I stopped and jumped back. There were carcasses of females and blood splattered everywhere. "Captain!" Everything went blank after that.

¤ (Hours Later) ¤

All I saw was black, but I heard voices. "There was a powerful Reiatsu and she collapsed."

"What was it?"

"Sorry, I took it higher priority to take care of the captain." Kiyono said.

"Understandable, thank you for bringing her to us." Unohana said. I passed out, on my first duty. I am a disgrace.

"The weird thing was I couldn't sense anything nearby but her eyes went wide and she fell to the ground."

"This is surprising because your sense of Reiatsu dulls normally from being in the Human World over long periods of time so unless it was strong and close it shouldn't have affected her."

"But you have to think about it another way. When she was in the human world, she dealt with a lot of humans that had extremely high Reiatsu so maybe her sense was able to stand higher levels at close distances." Hitsuguya said.

"It's possible but Kiyono couldn't sense it so what could have made her pass out." I tried to open my eyes and they did.

"Kuchiki-taichou, you're awake." Unohana said.

"Yeah, I sensed a reiatsu that was nearby and it was extremely powerful. It felt like nii-san in a hollow form. It's a…" I closed my eyes.

"No need to say more. We'll take care of it." Hitsuguya said.

"No, it's my division. I can handle it."

"Sorry but my division is in charge of that kind of breaks in security plus, you're on lockdown."

"On who's orders?" I asked.

"Mine," Said Yamamoto. "All females are on lock down on my orders."

"Why just females?" I asked.

"It's the Grand Fisher combined with the extra Reiatsu of all its targets." I gasped.

"No wonder it's so strong. All that energy being left in combination with many potential Shinigami. It's horrible." I said.

"Yes, and it's back to its same old tricks, killing females. So we're putting all females in lock down in the main group building 9 building." He commanded.

"I understand and I respect your orders." I walked off with my head down.

"Don't take it so personally Rukia; it's for your safety. The protection of Captains comes first after the security of the general population. We can't take the chance with you in danger. Just go along with it." Renji said smacking me on the back.

"I am but I feel useless again."

"Trust me, there are a lot of people who if they had a choice they wouldn't let women do anything because they feel it's too risky and they serve too much importance. If they had there way, you'd be stuck in Soul Society in a room by yourself just to do paperwork and take care of people."

"Great!" I said extremely sarcastically.

"Yeah I know I'd be fine with that but…" I kneed him in the stomach and he crumbled onto the floor and walked off.

"Rukia what did you do to him?" Ichigo asked.

"Taught him respect for other captains and females."

"The hard way?" He asked concerned.

"Yeah, but it's good for him." I said walking off. He picked me up and walked down the halls. "Where are we going?" I asked.

"To the containment center," He said. "You were going the wrong way and I didn't want you to get attacked so this is the only safe way to take you anywhere without getting attacked."

"My stuff?" I asked.

"Taken care of, now back with all the other girls." He said.

"Fine, but I have two feet you know."

"I know." He answered. "You always walk too slowly and I have other females to guard." He said.

"You're on guard duty?" I asked.

"Yeah, apparently that Gin dude always took care of guarding mass amounts of people so now I'm supposed to. 50 of the Soul Society population is considered a mass amount."

"Actually there are only about 10 females in Soul Society."

"Really, who?" He asked.

"Soifon, Isane, Unohana, Hinamori, Ise, Matsumomo, Nemu, Kukaku, Orihime and I." I stated. "I was right there are only currently 10 in the central gates of Soul Society and the rest are safer out there then in here." I stated happily.

"So I'm guarding 10 extremely powerful females. I should help and leave you to protect yourselves."

"We could but this is your job for now, so deal." I said to him as he pouted.

He set me on my feet and opened the door with a key and pulled after him inside. "Everyone is almost here, except for Unohana then, right?" He asked.

"Yeah, it seems so." I said as I looked upon all the annoyed girls in the room. I took a seat next to Hinamori and Ichigo locked the door after he locked me inside of this room.

"How is everything going out there?" She asked.

"Not good, did you guys hear why we're here." Most shook their heads, no.

"We're here because Grand Fisher's out there." I stated clearly. Everyone gasped and stared upon me. "They don't want us getting hurt." She said.

"We're there top Shinigami and they lock us up for safety, this is stupid." Matsumomo said.

"Where's Unohana?" Isane asked.

"She's still in the division headquarters." I stated.

"But she could get attacked as well." Isane worried.

"They've got three captains there protecting her on duty, in actuality she's safer then us, Yamamoto, Hitsuguya and Renji are all there protecting her so she's safe."

"Oh, that's good. I was worried." Isane said.

"I'm sure that she's fine." I said.

There was an explosion and Grand Fisher broke into the back of the building. "Ready!" Matsumomo said.

We all pulled out our Zapakuto s and ran toward him. "Shikai, Bankai!" Each of us yelled killing it but we all were knocked out, it was a double knock out. We were awake but we couldn't move. Ichigo came in and the other captains came in and followed and finished Grand Fisher.

I tried to get to my feet as each of the captains and other Shinigami. We were all taken back to our respective dormitories to rest. They were also placed under guard by a respective person. A list was posted to make sure we would be fine. Who knew that something so strong could be defeated so easily?

C. Rukia Kuchiki- C. Kurosaki C. Unohana- C. Abarai Lt. Matsumomo- Lt. Kira Lt. Isane- Lt. Kiyono C. Hinamori- C. Hitsuguya Lt. Yoshiro- C. Kenpachi Lt. Ise- C. Kyoraku S. Orihime- S. Ishida Lt. Kukaku- S. Ganji Lt. Nemu- C. Mayuru

∆ (Somewhere Near 8th Division Headquarters) ∆

"I don't like being defended." I stated as he carried me like a little child in one arm and holding his Zapakuto's handle to be prepared to attack at any moment, in the other.

"Just relax; you used up most of your energy on that Bankai. It did seem extremely powerful." He complimented me.

"Thanks but I'm tired of being useless."

"You aren't useless, you just think you are."

"I'm being carried around." I stated to make a point.

"So you would pass out if I let you walk, so deal." He said annoyed with my ranting.

"Thanks for that."

"Sorry for not protecting you." He apologized.

"It's alright, but you were right."

"About what?" He asked.

"About it being useless to defend some of the strongest around," I answered him.

"Oh yeah, I guess I was. Thanks." He said back.

"You're welcome. And, are we there yet?" I asked.

"Where are we going again?" He asked.

"13th Division Headquarters," I said.

"Well we just pasted my headquarters." He said.

"We're going the wrong way then, obviously. The headquarters are set up on a large ring around the outer wall of Soul Society. If we just pasted your headquarters then we're going the right way, you're just making a circle rather then going through the city." I said.

"Maybe that was the 8th Division Headquarters," He said.

"How could you confuse your own headquarters with the 8th Division Headquarters, one has to lines going down while the other is three straight lines. One you live at the other you don't. Also, they are on the complete opposite side of Soul Society." She said sighing.

"I got lost Yoshiro has lived here for years and she can't find her way." He stated.

"She's young and has horrible sense of directions like you. But she knows if she's going the right way by reading signs." I pointed to a sign that read, 9th Division Headquarters forward 200 kilometers.

(To explain this think of it like a clock, 12 o'clock is division 13 because the first division resides in the center of Soul Society. Then it goes 1 to 13 from then on. His division is at 4 o'clock and Rukia's is at noon. Therefore, if he's been walking for a while and they're now at 8th Division when they left from the 4th division you can tell these things:

1. Ichigo is going the wrong way.

2. They've been walking for a while.

3. Ichigo has horrible sense of directions.

4. They almost walked around half of the edge of Soul Society.

5. They still have half the time they already spent walking to go.

6. Ichigo can't read signs.

7. Ichigo is extremely lost in Soul Society)

"Ichigo put me down. I'm going to flash step there. You can follow my lead." I said as Ichigo placed me on the ground.

"Fine." He said as we flash stepped off. It only took us a few hundred flash steps.

"Rukia, Why are you here?" Kiyono said.

"This is my headquarters and I'm being protected here."

"They assigned each girl to a different division. You were supposed to stay at the 3rd Division with Ichigo." I sighed. We are going to have to make a complete circle.

I sighed and took a look at my paper again.

C. Rukia Kuchiki- C. Kurosaki (3) C. Unohana- C. Abarai (4) Lt. Matsumomo- Lt. Kira (10) Lt. Isane- Lt. Kiyono (13) C. Hinamori- C. Hitsuguya (5) Lt. Yoshiro- C. Kenpachi (11) Lt. Ise- C. Kyoraku (8) S. Orihime- S. Ishida (9) Lt. Kukaku- S. Ganji (9) Lt. Nemu- C. Mayuru (12)

"Great!" I yelled.

"What's wrong Captain?" He asked.

"Ichigo should have gone towards 13th Division but he went towards the 5th Division and made a half circle here and now we get to make a whole trip around again." I sighed and collapsed and felt so tired because I had used all my energy to get us here.

"She's tired, well bye."

"Wait," I said. Ichigo put me back on my feet and I drew the directions to his division on the paper.

"I can get to my place fine from yours; I do it a few times a day." He said.

"I know I'm making sure you're doing it right." I closed my eyes and let myself find peace in all the hectic ness of today. I found the sleep that I desperately needed today easy to find.

∆ (Division 4) ∆ - ¤ (Minutes Earlier) ¤ - None

"I'd like to thank you Captain Abarai for watching me." Unohana said bowing and then looking at him as she went back to curing a patient under her care.

"It's no big deal." Renji said.

"I think it is. Don't you care that it's a waste of your time to watch a fellow captain?" She asked turning around to look at him.

"Nah, Ichigo cares and watches of Rukia all the time and they're both Captains. You'll be surprised how many lessons you can learn from those two." He said.

"That's wonderful how they care for each other, isn't it?" She asked.

"Yeah, great." He said.

"Do you like her?" She asked.

"Nah, I'm not what's best for her. She doesn't love me. We're friends and that's all we've ever been there are sometimes in the past I wish we were more but hey, I can't change anything."

"That's good that you accept things like that. Most wouldn't, they hurt the person causing pain to the very person that they want to love them. That ruins the only thing they have, a friendship with that person. It's sad." She said.

"Yeah, but not me. I'm special. I accept things, like Rukia leaving. Sure, it took me time, but it's not as if she never talked with me. We're still close, like family really."

"That's good." She said.

"Yeah, but I don't take things that I have no control of personally." He answered.

"I'm glad because that's just more problems that we'd deal with later." She said.

"What do you mean?"

"Unrequited Love always causes large scale problems if left untaken care of in Soul Society."

"How so?"

"Hinamori couldn't face it to herself that she loved Hitsuguya so she found someone she could freely love but he used her and left her to be confused with her love for Hitsuguya and her false love for her captain." He sighed and nodded.

"Yeah I know that one. I couldn't believe something as simple as love could almost cause the death of two people." He said sadly to himself.

"You've seen it before?"

"Yeah, Sort of. My captain married Rukia's sister but she never gave up looking for Rukia which caused my captain to lose the last sense of humanity he had for a while." He said.

"I remember that, but it doesn't get better after that." She said.

"Sometimes, I hope it did." He said.

"I know."

∆ (Division 9 Headquarters) ∆

"I can't believe they did this to me!" Kukaku yelled.

"Sis calm down," Ganji said to his sister.

"Really Kukaku, it's best if you rest. I'm sure that that attack took a lot out of you." Orihime said.

"You bet it did but I don't care. I'm tired of being defended. No wonder my brother went soft!" She yelled.

"He didn't go soft." A vice captain said walking in. "He cared what happened to others. No one goes soft as a Shinigami. I hope you soon learn that. It's not the easy life. It's kill or be killed with every hollow you meet." The 9th Division vice Captain said.

"You know my brother?" He asked.

"Yes, we were both Lieutenants and still studying to get Bankai at the time, and he was killed. My name is Hisagi." He stated plainly.

"So, what do you mean?"

"Have you ever been covered in blood seen 10 new students been killed right in front of eyes. Shinigami who wanted to do something with their life, top of their class, strong and smart but a hollow came and killed them in seconds and they were dead before you could move?"

She closed her eyes. "I've never witnessed a death."

"Then you can't say you understand it or Shinigami are soft. We kill many things everyday and send them here. We also have to face things we killed in their past lives. It's a horrible feeling. It kills you inside." He said walking off.

"But, you're protecting the strong and the weak, why?"

"We only have 10 girls in all of the Divisions and they care an ability hidden secretly within each and every one of them that makes the invincible. It's our job to protect it. I can't say anything more." He said.

"I don't want to be protected."

"Then you're someone who's different from every human being." He said laughing.

"How so?" She asked.

"Everyone has protection of some sort. Your strength, arguing, and reiatsu are testimony that you do want to be protected; you just want to be the person who is protected." He stated clearly.

"So, maybe that's all I want."

"Well are jobs here are to protect all women, so I can't let you come to harm. So behave." He said plainly.

"I will." She said taking in all that he had said.

∆ (W/Rukia and Ichigo) ∆

"Rukia?" Ichigo asked.

"Yeah?" She answered back.

"They told me something about why we have to protect Reiatsu carrying Females, what is it?"

"I'm not sure. I know that they won't tell us what we have that is the best for all humanity but one day they might. However, if you find out. Don't tell me. I want to discover it myself." She answered back.

"Alright, but what if it's important that you know it."

"If it has anything to do with anyone dying or living, you can tell me. If not, then no." She answered blankly and she rested her head back on his shoulder.

"What would you do if I died?" He asked.

She smacked him hard with a wooden Zapakuto. "If you ask me that again I'll be forced to use a kudo on you." She warned.

"Fine, but I was wondering."

"Ichigo, don't!" She warned.

He felt a tear fall onto his shoulder. "Alright, but one day will you tell me."

"No." She stated and closed her eyes as hard as she could muster and fell to sleep.

"Rukia?" She asked.

"I'm sorry." She placed her and her waist on top of Ichigo's hand, which was placed lightly around her waist.

"Stupid, this isn't something you need to apologize about. You should get out of that habit."

"What habit?"

"Apologizing for things that upset me. You just need to know that they aren't to be talked about." She said and hugged him further.

"I can't fall asleep so neither can you." He stated.

"Why not?" She asked.

"Because I have to protect you and I can't do that if I'm asleep."

"Why can't I sleep?" She asked.

"I need you to keep me company." She sighed and stood up. "Where are you going?"

"To the kitchen to use food to gain back my energy since I won't be sleeping for a while." She answered him.

"What are you making?"

"Cake, it has a lot of carbohydrates that will bring back my energy." She stated.

"How'd you know that?" She pulled up a book and set it on the table in front of Ichigo.

"High School Sophomore Biology, Rukia, this is my book."

"I know, and biology is the study of human life so I thought it would help me learn about my Gigai, you and other humans." She said happily.

"That's great; I'd like some cake too." She smiled and went of to making one from some of the cookbooks she had brought from earth. After all, even in Soul Society one needed to eat even if it was a lot less.

"What kind of cake should I make?" She asked.

"I don't know, Vanilla, Chocolate."

"Vanilla has vitamins in it while chocolate is a sugar which uses up energy so Vanilla it is."

"You sound like a scientist." Ichigo stated while watching Rukia work hard with mixing in ingredients and stuff like a scientist.

"What's a scientist?" She asked.

"Someone who works in science, a field where you explain everything logically."

"Nothing can be explained logically."

"Yeah, that's why it's so funny to see you acting like one." He said.