Chapter Twelve: You Remind Me

Kiyone sat across from her Captain, taking as much care as possible not to show her uneasiness to him. It wouldn't do for him to learn about that, now would it? She watched on in silence as he continued to fill out several sheets of paperwork, pausing occasionally to take a sip of the tea that was set in front of him. He had already refilled his cup five times. She, on the other hand, had barely even touched hers.

She clenched her hands tighter in order to keep from blurting out things she knew she shouldn't. She looked over to her side, noticing that they were both truly alone together. Although she was happy that something like this was happening, she sorely wished it was under different circumstances. She had always pictured this scenario to be more of romantic nature. Instead, she sat there quietly, awaiting what was probably a stern lecture in the making. She looked on impassively as her Captain took a sip of tea, with only the years of training she had keeping her from blushing.

One day, she would have to walk in here and destroy everything that her Captain treasured and loved.

Ukitake finished up his reports and stacked them in a neat pile on one side of the table. He then poured himself some more tea, taking care to not spill a single drop. He then took a small sip before setting the cup back down and focusing his attention on her.

One day, she would destroy his treasured tea set given to him by one of his siblings.

She could not meet his gaze as he cleared his throat before he spoke to her. He gave her a concerned expression as he asked, "Why did you not tell me where you were going today, Kiyone? You had the entire division worried sick about you." He chuckled softly, "Well, I'm sick already, so I guess I don't really count in that department. But still, even if I'm already sick, I was still worried that you might have gotten hurt."

One day, the division she was a part of would be burned and disassembled at her hand.

She bowed her head to him, "I am truly sorry Captain. I just…"

Thinking he knew what she meant, he said, "I know Kiyone. You are as worried as the rest of us about Aizen's betrayal, and I know you wanted to get stronger so you could help me… and the others out." He faked a couch in order to hide his embarrassment at the unfortunate slip of the tongue. Kiyone smiled inwardly at this. It appeared that her Captain didn't consider their relationship strictly professional.

One day, the only relationship that they would have would be one of enemies.

He coughed again and went on, "Anyway, I just wanted to get across to you how much this division and I care about your well being. I am glad for you though. It takes guts to even walk near that woman, let alone ask her to train you. That must have taken a great amount of courage, Kiyone, and I would be surprised if you could find someone as courageous as you in that regard."

Kiyone tilted her head to the side and placed a delicate finger to her bottom lip, "Zaraki-Taichou could have done it as well Captain, as well as many others, so please don't put me on a pedestal."

"You do have a very valid point about Zaraki, but that's not the type of courage that I am talking about. His kind of courage stems from his complete and total insanity."

Kiyone made a little fake sounding gasp, "Ukitake-Taichou! I never knew you could talk about another Captain like that. And here I was thinking that you liked everybody."

Ukitake managed to choke on his tea, coughing and sputtering, trying his hardest not to laugh himself to an early death.

One day, all of his laughter would cease, and she would be the cause.

He downed three more cups before he even attempted to try and continue speaking. "Anyway, I'm glad that you are okay and that you are doing your best to become stronger. How are the new recruits holding up, by the way? They seemed rather skittish this entire week."

Kiyone smiled at him, "They are just really nervous sir. Not only are they inexperienced in the field of battle, they will all be apart of the upcoming winter war. I'm not even entirely sure we should even consider to field them at any time during the fighting. More than likely they will all be easily and effortlessly wiped out. And as weak as they seem now, a couple could one day become single digit seat material. It would be a waist to waste potential talent so we can have some extra cannon fodder."

Ukitake nodded and frowned in thought, "I agree with you about them, Kiyone. I don't seriously think that Sensei will actually field them. He is always droning on and on about the future of the Shinigami and how it is our duty to nurture the potential growth of that future. For one so old, it can be quite surprising how long he can keep it up."

One day, he would learn what she really looked like, and would feel betrayed that she never showed him before.

He laughed again as he stood up. He scurried about, putting up all the tea and china. As he did this, Kiyone was reminded of something Ichigo had said to her,

"Don't get involved to deeply with him, Kiyone." He had said to her after one of the Elder meetings.

"I have no idea what you mean by that, Ichigo." She turned away from him and started to walk away, not wanting to hear another word.

He grabbed her by the arm and spun her around to face him, "You know exactly what I mean, Kiyone. I don't care if you act nice around him. I don't care if you seduce him into your bed. But whatever you do, please don't fall in love with him. It will only cause you pain in the end."

Unfortunately for her, it was already far too late. As much as she wanted to deny it, as much as she tried to deny it, there was no denying it. She was totally and unashamedly in love with her Captain, the one man she knew she should have never fallen in love with. She only hoped that he didn't love her back, but that was starting to change as well.

It would be easier when the time comes if he didn't love her, that way the betrayal would not cut him so deeply. But try as hard as she might to stop him from falling for her, even Ichigo the idiot could tell his opinion towards her had changed. His actions spoke louder than words, in the way he acted around her, in the way he occasionally say things that he did not mean to in her presence, and in the way he had scoured Soul Society looking for her.

They both had feelings of love towards the other, they both wanted to spend the rest of their lives together. Unfortunately, that could never happen.

One day, she would break his heart into a thousand pieces.

He walked back over to her assisted her as she stood up. He then led her outside the office and into the night air. Closing the door behind him, he offered her his arm as they walked back to her quarters.

The moon was unobscured, shining brightly at the pair as they walked. The occasional hoot of an owl did not pierce the atmosphere between the two, it simply added flavor and color to their walk. She noticed that her Captain must have gotten a little better. He was no longer walking as slumped as he had been. He now exuded strength as he led her along the path.

When they arrived at her door, he let her go. But he did something different than normal when saying goodnight to her. He bent down slightly and enveloped her in a warm and gentle hug. She hugged him back, not wanting the moment to end, cause she knew what would happen one day should it end.

One day, she would have to kill the man she loves more than life itself.

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Urahara and Isshin sat across from each other, both thinking deep thoughts. Okay, maybe not that deep, but for them it was deep. They had just sent off four young teenage boys to Hueco Mundo. Keigo, Mizuiru, Chad, and Uryu all went to Hueco Mundo in order to attempt to rescue Orihime Inoue. They still were unsure what Aizen was going to do with her powers as of yet, so it was imperative that they did not find out the hard way.

And that was just the tip of the iceberg. The masked Shinigami, the Vaizard, were up to something. Urahara was trying to dig up exactly what it was, but so far he had had no luck.

Isshin took a swig of sake, "What am I going to do, Urahara?"

Urahara scratched his chin, "What do you mean, Isshin?"

Isshin let out a frustrated sigh, "It's about my children. My little girls have not been training or anything for the past couple of days. They even go missing and don't come home till extremely late at night, or even not at all. When I try to ask them about where they've been, they blow me off or give me vague or cryptic answers. I don't even want to get into Ichigo."

Urahara snapped open his fan, "What is wrong with you son?"

"He really hasn't seemed to be himself lately. He hasn't even once inquired about the strange happening around Karakura, and even though he feigns ignorance, I know that he can see the phenomena. He disappears more than his sisters, and because of that I often don't see him for days or weeks on end."

Urahara held the fan to his face, "Maybe he is ignoring all the supernatural. He might associate those kinds of things with his mother, and so either consciously or subconsciously he blocks that stuff out. He probably does this so he doesn't snap. If you remember, the incident of his mother's death caused your son's soul to wander away form his body for almost six months. It's probably for the best that he doesn't get involved."

Isshin nodded. He then decided that he and Urahara should get hammered. Ah, the joys of living in a temporary body. Who needs to worry about ones liver when you can easily get an entirely new and healthy body?

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Ichigo awoke in his inner landscape, noticing that for all appearances he was alone amongst gravity defying sky-scrapers. He noticed that the inner landscape was experiencing sundown, casting the sky above into a wide array of colors.

"Yare, yare. I never would have expected you to come willingly back here, my Oumono."

Standing behind Ichigo was none other than Ichigo. The hollow was sneering at him, same as it always did.

Ichigo cut off any further conversation, before plunging on and asking a question, "Do you know how I might be able to use Kidou spells by flicking Zangetsu?"

Ichigo relaxed his face and rubbed his chin in thought. "You might be able to do a couple of techniques using you sword. If you were to spin it, not only could use Kidou to turn Zan-chan into a shield, you could probably use Shot of Red Fire and other techniques by spinning and charging the spell, then stopping the blade suddenly so that the technique gets thrown by the sword. Because of the great amounts of kinetic energy that had been built up, it should allow you to add better speed to the spells."

Ichigo nodded and began to concentrate in order to get back to reality. As he was leaving, Ichigo had something to say.

"Remember, Oumono, that your only the King now because you instinct was greater than mine. But never forget, if you let up for even a single instant, I will reach up and rip you form your throne, and I will keep you in the stables forever!"

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TBC