"Nii-sama!" Rukia yelled, fleeting behind her brother's back, protecting him from what would have been a fatal attack. The hollow's long pointed fingers struck her in the stomach, while the thorns that he spat reached her arms and legs.
Byakuya slowly turned around, fearing for what he might see. On the ground was his sister crumpled into a ball of lump with blood surrounding her small frame. He had no time to place her in a safe place before the hollows started attacking him again. Byakuya stood in front of his sister protecting her from the hollows that were charging for her.
"Nii-sama," she called, her voice sounding hoarse before she was coughing up blood. He glanced at her closed eyes, debating whether to respond to her or not. Rukia didn't wait for an answer, instead she continued with her speech. "Are you afraid?"
"No," he replied short and curtly before drawing his attention back to the hollows in front of hm. From the corner of his eye he could see a hollow trying to pass by him and attack the body behind him. He swiftly picked Rukia up and saved her from being attacked a second time, and pressed her against his body. The hollow was relentless, throwing countless amounts of thorns, aiming mostly at the person in his arms. In a split second that Byakuya was distracted by Rukia's growing cough the hollow charged for his heart. There was silence as the hollow looked down to a sword struck into his heart; he then looked up to find Byakuya's face covered in blood.
"Heh," the hollow chuckled. "Gotcha." He retrieved back his sword that was pierced into Byakuya's side and fell to the ground, dead. Rukia tugged on her brother's blood-covered robe and pulled her sword up. She brought her sword near his, and covered her hands with his so that the two swords would be connected.
Although Byakuya had no idea what she was doing, he went along with her plan and called for his zanpakuto, and Rukia did the same. She channeled all her energy into her sword and soon pink petals of the cherry blossoms covered the fighting ground, surrounding the enemy, and in a flash as quick and bright as lightning sent all the hollows to be frozen in place, with a swish of the petals they were all soon cut up into unidentifiable pieces. Byakuya looked down to the limp girl in his arms and was alarmed to find her face ghastly white, but when he saw her eyes he could see there was more life than before.
"Are you afraid?" she asked her question once again.
"Yes," Byakuya admitted.
"What are you afraid of Nii-sama?" Rukia asked, a small smile forming on her face.
"Losing you."