Whew. I start school next week! Sadly, I've done nothing with my break…I feel like it was wasted on sleeping in and lounging around, but eh, that's what breaks are for. Anyways, I thought I'd update this, so enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. There. I said it.

Chapter 2: Tragedy Strikes

"What?!"

"Don't get mad, Ikkaku." Renji said in an attempt to calm his friend.

"How can I not get mad?!" Ikkaku yelled. "All this excitement happens and no one bothers to wake me up?!"

"Trust me, you wouldn't have wanted to be there…" Renji stared into his cup of sake. "It was a total nightmare."

"Well, you could have let me decide for myself! Damn!" Ikkaku yelled, dumping the remains of the sake bottle into his cup only to find drops. "Out of sake."

"You don't get you do you?" Renji said, looking up at Ikkaku with glaring eyes. "This girl took out three of our captains!"

"So?" Ikkaku asked, arching an eyebrow. "She took out three captains, big deal."

"What do you mean 'big deal?!"

"They were weak captains. If one of them had been Zaraki-taichou, she wouldn't have gotten away."

"I wouldn't be so sure. Afterwards, she threw some sort of weird smoke bomb and literally disappeared into the shadows."

"Well, that's not hard. Shadows are dark. You can't see into them."

"No, I mean, she disappeared. She was there one second and gone the next!" Renji declared, slamming his fist on the table, then looked away. "It was as if…"

"As if what?" Renji snapped to attention. Ikkaku's attention was no longer on the sake bottle, and now on Renji. "Like she magically used the shadows to teleport away?

Preposterous! I can't even begin to imagine the level of expertise required to pull something like that off, especially when it's a technique that doesn't exist! She's just an

assassin-"

"No!" Ikkaku stopped mid-rant. "She knew levels of kido that only a captain level shinigami would know! She's more than just an assassin! She's clearly had training!"

Ikkaku was silent, a rarity Renji considered a miracle. He was clearly contemplating.

"But," Ikkaku said suddenly said. "What kind of training?"

xXxXxXxXxXx

"Nii-sama…" Rukia said, stepping into her brother's spacious home study. She was disturbed, but not surprised to see his office in a wreck. Papers, once neat piles on his

desk, were now scattered across the floor. Books were knocked from the shelves. An inkwell lay on its side in the corner, its contents spilt out onto the floor. A glass

paperweight that had been given to him from Ukitake as a gift, lay in pieces on the desk. The room was completely dark. She stepped over the mess, pushing papers aside

with her foot in an attempt to reach a lamp, but when she started to light it, she was startled when a "Leave it off" came from the corner. It was Byakuya.

"Nii-sama!" Rukia exclaimed.

"What are you doing here?" He replied, turning his head.

"I-I came to check up on you." Rukia said. Through the dim light coming through the door, Rukia took a moment to study his appearance. He looked disheveled. His eyes

were bloodshot, his hair messy. He wasn't wearing his kenseikan either, something that Rukia had never seen him without. "You've been in here all day, I was starting to get

worried." She suddenly noticed the glassy look in his eyes. For the first time he looked…human.

"Are you alright?" Rukia asked, although she was certain she knew what the answer was.

"I-I don't know…" He replied, turning his head away. Rukia slowly made her way across the room to his side. She knelt down next to him, noticing Hisana's picture in his

hands. "My father once told me something…" Byakuya began. "He once told me that everything that lives must also die and one who dies will join in the cycle of life that

circles our world and the next. When we lose loved ones, we are not really losing them…they live on, in a new life…"

"And," Rukia began. "You think that this Hisana is just the next life for the one you knew."

"I've thought about it…I've gone over it in my mind, and it's the only thing that makes sense, but…"

"You still have your doubts?" Rukia said.

"……" Byakuya was silent. Suddenly, Rukia knew he needed to take a break and focus on something else. "Why don't we take a walk?" She said, springing to her feet.

"Hm?" He turned his head to stare at her, obviously still focused on last night.

"I think that you're stressed, and a walk would definitely do you some good." She added, extending her hand. "So what do you say?"

He stared for a few moments. Then he closed his eyes and sighed.

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

"Oi! Rukia!" Rukia turned to see who was calling her. It was Ichigo, and he looked concerned. He stopped a few feet in front of her, placing his hands on his knees, huffing

and puffing. "What's going on?" He asked in between breaths. "Is it true there was an assassin here last night to kill Bya-mmph!" Ichigo was cut mid-sentence by Rukia's

hand. She pushed Ichigo a few feet back before removing her hand. She quickly turned to check on Byakuya. He was standing by the doorway, watching the sakura

blossoms. He seemed not to notice Ichigo's rude comment.

"What the hell'd you do that for?!" Ichigo asked, pissed at being pushed around.

"Look, nii-sama's been really unnerved by this whole thing so try to be a little sensitive!" Rukia said, half whispering, half yelling.

"Huh?" Ichigo's eyebrows went up. "You mean he's scared?"

"It's not fear!" Rukia's eyes fell. "There was just something about the assassin that bothered him…"

"Like what?"

"…I can't say…" Rukia couldn't answer him.

"Oh, I see. I'm not supposed to know, huh?"

"Ichigo…"

"Is he alright?" Ichigo asked, surprising Rukia greatly.

"What?" Turning around, she saw that Byakuya was no longer standing in the doorway, but instead, collapsed on the ground.

"Nii-sama?" Rukia said, subconsciously moving to where he lay.

"I'm going to get the 4th squad!" Ichigo yelled, running off in the other direction. Rukia didn't hear him.

"Nii-sama?!" Her voice filled the urgency as she fell at his side and began to gently shake his shoulder.

"Nii-sama! Nii-sama!!" She began to panic. "NII-SAMAAAAAA!!!!!!"

WHOO! It's really getting intense now! Read & Review Please and Thanks for reading!!