Bleach Fanstory: A Bleached Honeymoon

By Michael Xu

Bleach and its characters are trademarks of Kubo Tite and Shuesha. I don't hold any claim on it apart from the OCs I create

This is the sequel to Bleach: After the War, and follows Ichigo and Rukia as they embark on their honeymoon/mission around the world.

Summary: Ichigo and Rukia accepted a mission given by Commander General Unohana to clean up the real world's spiritual hot spots, using it as an excuse to go on a honeymoon. After dealing with a monster attack on Tokyo, the pair accompanied Chad to Okinawa, and helped him confront his estranged father, who turned out to be a hollow in disguise. Ichigo and Rukia then travelled to Beijing, where Soifon and Yoruichi were waiting for them. The four high level Shinigami investigated a strange spiritual phenomena occuring in the Forbidden City, and encountered a millenia old hollow, Ban Kailong. This ancient fiend had put the entire city under a shroud of darkness, pluning the country into chaos. With his disguise broken, the hollow fled to the great wall. Soifon and Yoruichi chased after him and, assisted by Ichigo and Rukia, put an end to his reign of terror. With their task finished, Ichigo and Rukia decided to head south, guided by their spiritual pager...

Chapter 4: Nanjing

"Are you sure this is the right train?" Rukia asked Ichigo, as they looked up at a giant timetable. The two of them had followed Soifon's advice and went to Beijing's central station to find a route that would take them through the central provinces, where according to Yoruichi a large concentration of spirits resided.

"Yes I'm sure of it," Ichigo replied. "I studied Mandarin in junior and middle high school, so I know how to read, write and speak some of it. The line we're catching goes down through the coastal provinces from Beijing, before terminating at Shanghai. I don't think we need to go all the way though. Is your soul pager picking up any spiritual signatures?"

"Um, let's see," Rukia clicked her soul pager several times. "There's a large concentration of spirits some fifteen hundred miles south of Beijing, between these two provinces." Rukia showed Ichigo her pager, pointing to the large yellow area straddling the borders of Anhui and Jiangsu provinces. Ichigo looked at it for a moment, and then had a sudden realization.

"I think know the reason why there's such a large volume of spirits there," Ichigo said. "I studied a bit of recent Chinese history in junior high and during that time I learnt that Japanese soldiers murdered hundreds of thousands of people in the city of Nanjing during the Second World War. Then about twenty years later, a mass famine struck those two provinces and millions ended up dying. I doubt the Gotei 13 would have had enough manpower to send all of the people who died from these catastrophic events to Soul Society."

"Duh, two thousand Shinigami for millions of souls? Of course they wouldn't be able to handle it!" Rukia yelled at Ichigo. "Anyway, if there's really going to be that many dead people about, we're going to have our work cut out for us."

"Exactly. Which is why we can't afford to waste any time," Ichigo said, picking up his bags and heading towards the boarding area. "Our men must be crying for us to come back by now." Rukia laughed at Ichigo's remark. The two of them went through the clearance check and went down an escalator to the platform below. The train they had booked was already waiting for them. Entering a double-decker carriage, Ichigo and Rukia navigated their way through a series of narrow passages before they found the cabin number listed on their ticket.

"This is the one, cabin 15," Ichigo said. He pushed open the door, revealing a cramped room with four bunk beds, two on each side. There were two small drawers beside the doorway but they were barely large enough to fit the luggage.

"Oh great, we have to sleep in this small place?" Rukia moaned. "Plus we have to share it with two other people."

"I think all of the cabins in this train are like that, so it's not like we're getting a raw deal. Plus, you were quite happy to sleep in my closet for two months. Remember that?" Ichigo asked her slyly. He chuckled when he saw Rukia blush. She responded by hitting him with her bag.

"Fine then, I'll take the top bunk," she said. Ichigo was still chuckling inside as he placed his luggage in the drawers.

The train to Nanjing slowly departed Beijing Railway station, gathering speed as it passed through the city. Within an hour the train was well beyond Beijing's urban area.

The journey was mostly uneventful. Apart from eating at the overpriced bar at the rear of the train, Ichigo and Rukia stayed in their cabins, reading manga tankobans to pass the time. The landscape of rural China rolled by without them noticing much, and as the sun set the two of them got changed and slept on the bunks.

By the next morning, the train was still heading towards Nanjing. But as it crossed a stretch of land marked with gravestones, it suddenly derailed. The engine slid off the tracks and smashed into a house, causing all of the carriages to overturn. They continued sliding across the ground until they were stopped by a cluster of trees. With the train finally halted, the passengers inside who had not been instantly killed by the derailment woke up screaming and in pain.

"What the hell happened?" Ichigo asked. He awoke to find himself lying face down on what appeared to be the rear wall, squashed under a mattress. He quickly got the mattress off him. It was then that he saw Rukia, wedged into the ceiling, with her right arm handing limp by her side.

"Rukia!!" Ichigo yelled. He ran over to her side and checked her vital life signs. He was relieved that she was still breathing, and tried slapping her face to get her to open her eyes.

"Uhh…" Rukia moaned as she opened her eyes. "Ichigo, what happened?"

"I'm not sure. Let's get out of this room for now," he replied. Rukia tried getting up, but then a bolt of pain surged up her arm. Ichigo felt her arm and frowned in concern.

"Oh no, your elbow's broken," Ichigo said. "I'll have to bandage it with a sling." He rummaged through the luggage and got out a jacket. As he gently slung up her arm, Rukia noticed the huge bruise on Ichigo's forehead.

"You're bleeding!" she exclaimed. Ichigo was shocked for a moment, but then he felt his forehead and realized what happened.

"No wonder my head was throbbing when I woke up," he sighed. "I guess I need to bandage myself as well." He grabbed a towel from their luggage and wrapped it around his head. "Can you walk?"

"I think so," Rukia said. Pushing with her left arm, she managed to climb out of the bunk and walk to the luggage. After they hastily dressed themselves, Ichigo and Rukia grabbed what remained of their luggage and tried to get out of the carriage. Along the way they encountered scores of injured people about. There was shattered glass everywhere, as well the smell of gas.

"Shit, we've got to get out now!" Ichigo yelled. He and Rukia squeezed out of the space between the carriages and ran as fast as they could from the train. Moments later, the whole carriage went up in flames, as the leaking diesel fuel from the engine ignited. Ichigo and Rukia dived for the ground, but the heat from the flames was still intense enough to singe their skin. Before the fire intensified, Ichigo and Rukia got as far as they could away from the train. Only after running some two hundred yards did they finally stop and catch their breath.

"That was close," Ichigo gasped. His hands were numb from carrying the entire luggage and his head was still throbbing. He looked back at the smouldering train and wondered how many people were still trapped in there, unable to get out in time.

"I don't understand," Rukia said. "How did the train suddenly derail like that?" Ichigo struggled to come up with an explanation, but then his senses tingled. Glancing around, he saw several strange figures coming towards them.

"Rukia, do you still have your soul pager?" he asked.

"I do," Rukia replied. She rummaged through the pockets of her jacket and pulled out the cell phone like pager. She glanced at the screen and gasped.

"My god, there's hundreds of spiritual entities closing in on us!" she exclaimed.

"My suspicions were correct then," Ichigo said, standing up. "This place is full of gravestones, so I am guessing it must be where the people from the famine or the massacres died. Their spirits must have lain dormant, but then as the train went by, they responded to our reiatsu and attacked."

"So that means our presence here as caused this tragedy?" Rukia asked. Ichigo nodded grimly. He took out a Gikongan from his pocket and gulped it down. In an instant he was in his Shinigami form, complete with his captain's haori.

"Ow, why does my head hurt?" Kon in Ichigo's gigai asked. "You could've picked a better time to switch." Without needing a word, Rukia followed Ichigo and took out her Gikongan, changing into her Shinigami form.

"Kon, take Chappy and hide yourselves in the nearby houses until the area is safe. If you see any survivors, take care of them," Ichigo said.

"Alright," Kon nodded. He grabbed the luggage and then the two mod souls ran towards the houses in the distance. By now, the various spirit entities became clear enough for Ichigo to make out their appearance. All of them resembled badly decayed bodies, or skeletons, dressed in tattered garments. A few carried swords or other tools, whilst a few had mutated limbs and other body parts. But it was their eyes that were the most distinctive feature. All of them had soulless, piercing eyes, similar to a hollow's. Looking at them, Ichigo recognised what they were.

"Zombies," he said with a chuckle. "I thought they only existed in films and television shows, but I guess they really do exist."

"I've never seen these creatures before," Rukia said. "Are they hollows?"

"Who knows? But they certainly reek of hollow reiatsu. So our best option is to treat them like any other hollow-go for the kill!" Ichigo charged at the horde of zombies and in one swift movement sliced through the heads of dozens of the creatures. A moment later, the bodies crumbled into dust, as the hollow spirits trapped within howled in despair before disappearing.

"Looks I was right about them. They are hollows," Ichigo said. "They're just possessing dead human bodies."

"Well then, all we have to do is to kill them all, right?" Rukia asked. Ichigo grinned at her. With their juices running high, the two of them went on a rampage, killing all of the zombies in the vicinity. As their swords swung down, the hollows inside the dead bodies were purified. An hour later, Ichigo and Rukia finally stopped fighting and collapsed on the ground. Both of them were panting heavily. Hundreds of hollows had died to their Zanpaktos and for now, the immediate vicinity was clear of any spiritual activity.

"How are you feeling Rukia?" Ichigo asked.

"I'm a little weary, but I'm fine," Rukia replied. "We should get back to our gigais." They sheathed their swords and started searching for Kon and Chappy. But after searching around the wreckage of the train, going through all of the houses in the village and overlooking a five mile area from the air, they couldn't find any trace of them at all.

"Where the hell are they? They couldn't have run off this far by themselves during that time!" Ichigo exclaimed in frustration. Rukia frantically clicked on her soul pager. She then gasped in surprise.

"Ichigo, there's two faint spiritual pressures some twenty miles to the south. They don't resemble hollow reiatsu so I think it might be them," Rukia said.

"Something must have happened then. Quick, let's chase after them!" Ichigo shouted. He and Rukia Shunpo-ed across the sky, desperately trying to catch up to the two mod souls, wondering what had happened to them.

Kon opened his eyes, and wondered where he was. His head was still throbbing from the injury to the gigai Ichigo had suffered earlier, but now his body was aching. He looked around and noticed he was in the back of a ute. It was pitch black, but as his eyes adjusted to the light he could make out some things. Almost at once he spotted Chappy, lying on her back, with her blouse half torn. He quickly went beside her and shook her body.

"Wake up Chappy!" Kon whispered in her ear. "Wake up!" He tried shaking her many times, but to no avail. Just then a slot near the front of the container opened and a harsh voice barked something in what Kon recognised was Mandarin. He waited until the slot was closed and tried to wake Chappy up again. After several more tries she finally opened her eyes and stared blankly into the distance for a few seconds.

"Chappy is in a weird place, pyon," she said.

"Of course we are," Kon whispered. "Somebody blindsided us and threw us both in here, remember?"

"Chappy does not remember what happened after Ichi-san told us to hide, pyon." Kon told her to keep quiet. He listened to the sounds coming from outside the vehicle. Car horns, motorcycle engines and the rumblings of trucks made him convinced they were in the middle of a major city. The constant stopping of the ute was another indication. But Kon had no clue where they were going until he felt the ute stop completely the back door slide up. A sudden bright light blinded him, and then a mob of hooded men with thick accents shouted Mandarin into his ear. Kon saw two pairs of hands yank a screaming Chappy out of the ute; then two other people grabbed Kon by his shirt collar. The two of them were lead through a discrete warehouse and into a small but well decorated room containing an elevated throne and several large statues depicting strange figures in armour. On top of the throne sat what appeared to be a man dressed in elaborate golden robes and wearing a golden crown on his forehead. Kon noticed immediately however, that this person was not a living human, but a hollow in disguise, for evil reiatsu was oozing from his body. The hooded figures spoke in Mandarin to him, before he got up and addressed Kon and Chappy.

"Ah, esteemed guests, it is so nice of you to come here," the man spoke in a charismatic voice. "I have heard much about your deeds, Substitute Shinigami Kurosaki Ichigo and his nakama, Kuchiki Rukia. Your exploits in the Heavenly War have become legendary. It was a mighty deed indeed to have defeated the devil and restored God to his rightful place." Kon shivered as he saw the man come down the steps. He thinks I'm Ichigo...I'm doomed if he finds out I'm just a fake! He tried to put on Ichigo's serious looking face.

"What do you want with us?" Kon asked. "You sound as if you are happy with what we did." He sweated nervously, hoping that the man would buy his act.

"Ha, ha, ha!" the man suddenly burst out into an evil laugh. "Happy? Why would I be happy when the god I worshipped, the saviour of humanity, was cast down and replaced by a corrupt god, served by an army of false angels? I've known about you Shinigami for years. You think yourselves as servants of god, but I know that the god you serve is false. The Messiah may be dead at the moment, but mark my words one day he shall return, and I, Hong Xiuquan, shall be his greatest prophet!"

This guy's totally insane, Kon thought to himself. Does he think Aizen was the Messiah? Kon didn't know much about Christian mythology, but he knew enough to know that Hong was seriously warped in his thinking. He shifted closer to Chappy, and was about to whisper something in her ear, when both of them were forced down on their knees. Their necks were pushed down upon wooden blocks, which were then clamped shut. Kon gulped as he saw two hooded figures carrying huge broadaxes come out. He tried to keep a calm face, but deep down he was shitting himself in terror.

"Before I execute both of you for your crimes against god, I shall read a sermon from the bible," Hong said in an arrogant tone. As he listened to the monotonous drone of Hong's voice, he prayed that Ichigo and Rukia to come and save them.

Ichigo and Rukia Shunpo-ed floated hundreds of feet above the mighty Yangtze River. On the river's eastern bank was the city of Nanjing, sprawling for dozens of miles to the east. The two of them had reached the outskirts of city in little more than an hour since losing sight of Kon and Chappy, but they could find no trace of the mod souls' reiatsus.

"Shit, we've lost sight of them," Ichigo gnashed his teeth. "It's going to be tough tying to search through the entire city."

"We can just stick to the places where spiritual activity is high," Rukia said.

"I guess that's the only option we have." Ichigo and Rukia Shunpo-ed across the river and entered the city proper. With a literal maze of streets, roads, and buildings, it was a nightmare just trying to focus on the faint signatures of Kon and Chappy. The task was complicated by the mass of both living people and spirits mingling with each other. Although the normal humans couldn't see them, the spirits could certainly see Ichigo and Rukia, and upon seeing them they started to run away in fear. Their flights of panic caused chaos in the streets as the dead spirits bumped into cars and other people.

"Ichigo, shouldn't we sort out these spirits first?" Rukia asked.

"And risk Kon and Chappy's lives? No way!" Ichigo exclaimed. "We can deal with them later. Right now, we have no time to waste. The two of them could be in any sort of danger." Ichigo locked onto the greatest source of spiritual energy and Shunpo-ed towards it, with Rukia struggling to keep up with them. Upon landing in the vicinity of the source, the two of them were surprised to see Renji and Lisa. The captain of the 8th division and his lieutenant were equally surprised to see Ichigo and Rukia.

"Ichigo, Rukia, what are you doing here?" Renji asked.

"We're trying to find our mod souls," Ichigo replied. "Somebody abducted them all when we were slaying hollows and now they've taken them to a place in this city."

"Now that you mention it, we were sent here to investigate a cult supposedly run by a powerful hollow," Lisa said. "Perhaps your mod souls were taken there."

"They could have been," Rukia said. "Do you know of the cult's location?" Renji and Lisa nodded. They lead Ichigo and Rukia through the downtown area of Nanjing until they reached a large warehouse complex in a fairly quiet residential area. The place reeked of hollow reiatsu, and upon entering the front of the warehouse, the décor of the surroundings, with red crosses and symbols adoring the walls, alerted Ichigo's suspicion that something was not right. Upon entering the main chamber of the warehouse, the four of them encountered a sizeable number of black hooded figures, presumably humans. The Shinigami slipped by them without notice and walked through a narrow passageway until they found themselves in what appeared to be a throne chamber. In an instant Ichigo's eyes were drawn to Kon and Chappy, on their knees and with their heads stuck in chocking blocks. They were about to be executed by two men carrying double bladed axes. Without hesitation, Ichigo kicked one of the axemen in the face, sending him crashing into a wall. Rukia knocked the other man out with her scabbard. Then they quickly broke the wooden blocks, allowing Kon and Chappy to stand up.

"Thank you so much Ichigo," Kon said. "If you had come a second later we would have been dead for sure."

"No need to thank me," Ichigo sighed. "I was just protecting my property, that's all." He and Rukia turned to the man who was standing on top of the stairs. Ichigo noticed that he was wearing similar clothes to Ban Kailong. He also sensed a strong hollow reiatsu from the man.

"This can't be right," Hong Xiuquan said, sweat flowing down his face. "How can there be two of you, Kurosaki Ichigo?!"

"What, you've never heard of gigais before?" Ichigo grinned. "The ones you captured were merely corpse dolls controlled by Gikongan souls."

"Then that means you're the real Kurosaki Ichigo!" Hong exclaimed. "The time of my vengeance is at hand!" Ichigo and Rukia looked at one another with confused faces.

"Why would he want revenge on you?" Rukia asked. Ichigo shrugged his shoulders.

"Look out, he's about to attack!" Renji shouted. The four Shinigami dodged a cero from Hong, who had cast aside his human disguise. Now his hollow visage was unmistakable. The human acolytes who had served him fled in terror when they saw what their master had become.

"Taste the wrath of Hong Xiuquan!" the hollow shouted. He flew down the stairs and lashed out at Ichigo with a pair of claws. Ichigo calmly sidestepped his attack and sliced his right arm clean with his sword. Hong crashed and slid into a wall just beside Kon and Chappy. Before he could get up he was cornered by the Shinigami, who pointed their blades near his neck.

"It's over," Ichigo said. "Whoever you were in life, you're just a hollow now. Surrender now and you may pass on peacefully to the afterlife."

"Or else suffer eternal torment in hell," Renji said. Hong sneered at them and suddenly grabbed Chappy by the throat. Then he fired a cero from his mouth, blasting a huge hole through the rooftop.

"So long Shinigami!" Hong laughed maniacally. "You'll never catch me now!" He leaped out of the building and disappeared.

"Kon, try to keep up with us," Ichigo said. Kon nodded in reply. Ichigo, Rukia, Renji and Lisa jumped up through the hole and Shunpo-ed along the rooftops. Kon followed close behind, his long legs enabling him to jump just as far as a Shinigami.

The hollow called who called himself Hong Xiuquan did not expect his pursuers to catch up to him. The blood dripping from his severed right arm, along with his leaking reiatsu, allowed Ichigo and the others to easily keep track of his movements. By the time he reached a large patch of forest in the eastern part of the city, the Shinigami were right on his heels. Hong fired a barrage of ceros with his mouth in an attempt to create a smokescreen but Ichigo and the others saw through his ruse. As soon as Hong landed in a clearing near a cemetery, he was completely surrounded. Before he could attempt to do anything to Chappy, Rukia quickly Shunpo-ed in and grabbed her out of his grasp.

"No!" Hong screamed in rage. He charged after Rukia.

"Bakudo 61, Rikujokorou," Renji said, pointing his right index finger at the hollow's waist. In an instant six golden rods stopped Hong in his tracks. He tried to break the rods apart, but Lisa casted Sajo Sabaku, constricting his arms with bands of spirit energy. Unable to move at all, Hong could only watch as Rukia and Ichigo pointed their swords at his mask. With one jab, Rukia shattered the mask, revealing his true face. For a brief moment, she stared at his face in astonishment.

"What's the matter Rukia?" Ichigo asked.

"I recognise this man," Rukia said. "I don't know from when, but during some of my dreams, his face keeps on appearing." Rukia stared into Hong's eyes, eyes that had now welled up with tears.

"You, you're my-" Hong stuttered. He paused for a moment, and sighed deeply. "I see now the monstrosity of the crimes I committed. I thought I was following the words of god, but in truth I was listening to the voice of the devil. I accept whatever punishment that awaits me now, whether it is in heaven or hell." As he dropped to his knees, Lisa and Renji released their spells. With a swift stroke, Rukia pierced her sword through his skull. A moment later the skies darkened and from out of the shadows emerged a set of giant red gates, with two colossal skeletons wrapped in bandages emerging from them. The gates slowly opened. Then in a flash a giant disembodied hand wielding a huge guard-less sword impaled Hong in the chest. With a hideous inhuman laugh the hand disappeared into the void, carrying its victim with it. A second later the gates closed and then faded away.

For a while, Ichigo, Rukia, Renji and Lisa could say nothing. It had been a long time since they had seen a hollow being sent to hell, and it was disconcerting experience.

"I never would have thought he was wicked to begin with," Lisa said. "He seemed to have redeemed his soul in the end."

"I guess he didn't redeem himself quick enough," Renji said. As the four of them, along with Kon and Chappy, explored the cemetery, Rukia came upon a tombstone and froze in shock. She collapsed onto her knees and trembled.

"What's wrong Rukia?" Ichigo asked. He saw the tombstone that Rukia was looking at-and his eyes widened in surprise. Upon the tombstone the Chinese characters, equivalent to Japanese Kanji, spelt out the words 'Rukia'. On the tombstone beside it, the words 'Hisana' were engraved in big characters.

"I don't believe it," Rukia said, unaware that she was crying. "I once had dreams about the time when I was still alive, but I never imagined that I died in a place like this."

"Of course you didn't," Lisa said, kneeling beside Rukia. "Very few souls remember the time and place of their death. But the truth is you're not the only one to have died here. Take a look around." As Lisa directed Ichigo, Rukia and Renji through the cemetery, the names of several familiar people appeared, such as Nanao, Momo, Toshiro Shuhei, and even Renji himself, written with different spellings, but their identities clearly visible.

"Oh man, I never I died in this place either," Renji said.

"I think I know why there are so many familiar names here," Ichigo pondered. "This city was the centre of a great civil war that occurred in the middle of the nineteenth century. I think it was called the Taiping Rebellion. That hollow we killed, he called himself Hong Xiuquan, didn't he? That was the name of the leader of this rebellion. They say over twenty million people died in this conflict. I can't imagine how many souls would have been lying around back then."

"Well I can," Lisa smiled. "I was there, alongside my captain Shunsui, in the direct aftermath of that conflict. Commander Yamamoto mobilized the entire Gotei 13 to send all of the souls who had died to Soul Society. I think it was the greatest single influx of souls we ever had. A large number of these souls were recruited into the Gotei 13, which had still been recovering its losses from the Quincy wars.

"So that's why nearly every Shinigami in Soul Society looks Asian in appearance and speaks a version of Chinese or Japanese," Ichigo said. He chuckled to himself at the hilarity of the explanation. After spending some more time wandering around the cemetery, the four of them returned to Nanjing's city centre. Along the way, Ichigo and Rukia got back to their gigais.

"Are you planning to go back to Soul Society now?" Rukia asked Renji and Lisa.

"Yeah, we've finished the assignment Commander Unohana asked us to perform," Renji replied. "What about you two? Have you planned where to go next?"

"We haven't," Ichigo said frankly. "After we finished our mission with Soifon and Yoruichi we tracked down the largest spiritual hot spot, which happened to be this city. In fact, I dare say our journey so far has been entirely haphazard." He looked at Rukia, who was busily looking at her soul pager.

"From what I can see, the next Jureichi is a long distance away," Rukia said. She showed Ichigo her soul pager, and his eyes widened in astonishment at how far they would have to travel.

"Crap, this place is smack in the middle of Central Asia. How are we supposed to get here? Most of our money was taken from us when Kon and Chappy were abducted."

"If you're short on money, I can give you some," Lisa said. She reached into her hakama and pulled out large bunch of notes. "The Commander gave us a lot of Chinese yuan, but we didn't need that much, so you can have the rest."

"Thank you so much!" Rukia kissed Lisa on the cheek after she took the notes. "There's enough here to book a flight there."

"Well then, I wish the two of you good luck for the rest of your trip," Renji said. "We'll report to Unohana-san on our progress when we get back. See you guys later." Renji winked at Ichigo and Rukia. The two of them watched as Lisa used her Zanpakto to open the Seirei doors. The Captain of the 8th division and his Lieutenant stepped into the portal, turned around and waved Ichigo and Rukia a final goodbye before the doors closed and disappeared. For a moment, the two of them stood in the middle of a crowded square in silence, before Ichigo looked at Rukia.

"I suppose we had better search for a flight to whatever place we're meant to go to," Ichigo said with a smile.

"Before we do that, shouldn't we look for a place to stay?" Rukia asked cheekily. Ichigo laughed and kissed her in the cheek. They walked down towards the nearest bus stop, with Ichigo nursing Rukia's still broken right arm.

This was another difficult chapter to do. It took me a long time to plan out what was going to happen in this chapter. I initially wanted to have Ichigo and Rukia travel slowly through southern China dealing with hollows, before arriving at Nanjing, but a third of the way through, I realized it wasn't exciting enough. The idea of Kon and Chappy being kidnapped, and the Taiping Rebellion providing the backstory for the chapter, was something that really intrigued me, and I tried hard to make it work. It was also an opportunity to expand Rukia and Renji's backstories, and also explore a somewhat funny concept in Bleach: that almost every Shinigami in Soul Society looked Asian in appearance. Having already grounded Bleach heavily in the real world, it was a simple matter to take a historical event involving large scale deaths and try to fit it within the context of Bleach's universe.

For those who are unfamiliar with it, the Taiping Rebellion was a massive civil war that occured in the middle of the 19th century. It involved the declining Qing dynasty on one side, and a rebel state called the Taiping Kingdom on the other. The Taiping Tianquo, or Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace, was led by a man called Hong Xiuquan. He was a Hakka Chinese who converted to Christianity after failing an official exam. Having experienced a series of dreams where he was called upon by god to eliminate the demon worshippers, Hong started a religious sect amongst his native ethnic group that quickly grew in size and became a professional army. He and his followers captured Nanjing and made it the capital of his kingdom and Hong proclaimed himself the Heavenly King. He soon lost control over the movement, and after failing to capture more territory, the Taiping kingdom was gradually defeated by the Qing dynasty and its European allies, with Hong himself dying as his capital fell.

It was a struggle to convey the aspects of Hong's character and the events of the rebellion within the framework of the story, but I did the best I could.