All the captains, lieutenants and seated members, except the 1st Division Captain and his lieutenant, were in the meeting room. The room was unusually quiet. No one was talking or gossiping or chatting. The conference room was dead silence.
Several minutes later, Yamamoto Genryuusai Shigekuni with his fuku-taichou entered the meeting room. Every Shinigami in the room stood up and bowed to their Sou-taichou. The 1st Division Captain bowed slightly and sat on his chair.
"I got both bad and good news…" he stopped for awhile; looking at the faces of his Shinigamis. Then he continued, "The good news is that Urahara Kusuke-san, will be back in Soul Society. He will take place as the 3rd Division Captain…" he stopped again.
The laughters and talkings were erupted in the room. The friends and former members of the 12th Division were happy. The Captain Commander let his Shinigami to celebrate, first, before he told them the bad news.
After couple of minutes, Yamamoto Genryuusai-taichou cleared his throat and the noise went down but didn't die. "The bad news… the rumor that we'd heard is true. Aizen is going to attack us. He even sent us a message. The message arrived at my table this morning. I hope all of you can prepare for this upcoming war" he finished his sentences and the room was noisy again.
Everyone couldn't believe what they had just heard. Everyone thought that Aizen still needs a couple more years to finish whatever he was planning to do. But somehow, that traitor managed to complete his project in just a year. And it also meant that Soul Society was in big trouble. They need to get prepare before the attack or… Soul Society will lose the battle and the world will be surrounded with Hollows and Arrancars.
Most Shinigami were talking to each other, especially the seated members, making the room noisy, again. The captains were whispering with each other and only three people remained quiet and calm; the first division captain, his fuku-taichou and, of course, the sixth Division captain, Kuchiki Byakuya as he is the most cold person in Soul Society.
"Quiet please. We need to continue our meeting" the bald man said. The tone went down but didn't die instantly. "Now, we know that Aizen is going to attack us. So it means that we need to prepare to fight them. I hope that we can win against them this time… Anyone has any suggestion in how we need to prepare or something?" asked Yamamoto-Sou-Taichou.
The room went quiet. But couple seconds later, Renji broke up the silence.
"Yeah, I do have a suggestion" boomed the red haired fuku-taichou.
"Tell us, Abarai-fuku-taichou".
"You all must remember Kurosaki Ichigo? The orange haired substituted Shinigami that turned this place into chaos last year?" Renji said as everyone turned their attention to him. Some of them nodded. "We can ask him to help us. He fought with Aizen last time. Maybe he can help us defeat Aizen" said the red-haired Shinigami.
Everybody started to talk about Kurosaki Ichigo, minus Byakuya, Yamamoto and several captains. Rukia, on the other hand, kept silence. She didn't say a word since the meeting began. No one noticed about it. Not even her best friend, Hinamori Momo who woke up from her coma half year ago. Her brother was too far to notice about this. She sat and the end of the row while her brother was at the front.
Rukia, obviously, remembered that certain Shinigami. That certain Shinigami who help them to fought Aizen last year. Now they need his help, again and for sure, he will be here to help Soul Society. Rukia knows that he will. But will she ever told him her feeling? Rukia sighed.
"Okay. I'll think about it. Anyone has another suggestion?" said Yamamoto. Silence…No one seems to have another suggestion. "No one? Okay then. We're dismissed".
All the Shinigami got on their feet and walked out from the meeting room. Rukia walked out slowly, like a sick person and yes, she was feeling very unwell but nobody seemed to notice it. Suddenly, Rukia felt her legs couldn't take her body weight anymore. She fell but luckily, Kuchiki Byakuya managed to catch her before her head touched the floor.
Byakuya called her name several times but she didn't answer. She was too worn out to answer. Byakuya shouted for Unohana-taichou who was by chance just walked out from the two huge doors, right before Rukia fell. Unohana-taichou came back in. She ran towards Byakuya and checked Rukia's pulse and her condition.
Unohana-taichou had diagnosed that Rukia was suffering from fever and she must had forced herself and now her body was totally tired. The 4th Division Captain also said that if Rukia didn't get the rest that she needs, she will ended up like Hisana.
Kuchiki Byakuya of course didn't want his adopted sister to end like his wife. He nodded and said thanks. Then he carried Rukia to the Kuchiki Mansion. He went to her room, placed Rukia on her bed and covered her with a blanket. He went out from the room.
A minute later, he came back in with a basin and a towel. Byakuya damped the towel in the basin and gently put the wet towel on Rukia's forehead. Then the male Kuchiki walked away from Rukia's bed, towards the door. But he stopped when he saw something on the study table. Kuchiki Byakuya was sure saw a picture of Rukia and…Ichigo. He took the red heart frame. A smile slipped from Byakuya. Yup. It was a picture of his sister and the orange haired Shinigami. He chuckled, 'she missed her boyfriend' Kuchiki Byakuya said to himself. Then he went out from the room.
He woke up a bit early than the usual time. He bathed, wore his uniform and get his books ready. He took his bag at his table. He looked at the picture that was on the table. He really wanted to see her and tell her about his feeling. He sighed; not knowing that he will see her in a week more. Then Kurosaki Ichigo went downstairs. He took a piece beard and went out from the house, same as yesterday.
He walked and walked until he reached his destination. The riverbank. He stayed there for awhile. It was calming to just looked at the riverflow. Then he went to school. It was the last day of school. No more school until the summer ends.
Kurosaki Ichigo walked into his class. Keigo was waiting at at the door to greet Ichigo with his 'Good Morning' in his girly way. He walked in, avoiding Keigo and murmured 'good morning' to his friend. Inoue and Arisawa also greeted him. Ichigo replied without looking and his usual greeting. Ishida and Chad noticed that Ichigo wasn't himself. Not just today, yesterday too.
The class went as usual, with laughters, chats and everyone was happy. At lunch, nobody saw Ichigo and when Ishida asked him when they were in class. The carrot-top Shinigami shook his head and said nothing. The most waiting time finnaly approached. The last period. Everyone was talking and the class were noisy than usual. All seemed to be very happy. Summer holiday was tomorrow.
A teacher entered the class. The tone turned down but still there were pupils still talking. "I already checked your work. You all did a very good work and the best one goes to Ichigo" everybody applaused but he didn't really care. The bell rang and everybody shouted "holiday!!" and "banzai!". The teacher smiled, "Happy holiday and stay out of trouble!" she said.
Ichigo was the only one who didn't look happy. In fact, he didn't felt happy.
Rukia opened her eyes. Her body felt weak. She looked at the clock on her bedside. It was almost nine p.m.. She had been asleep for about twelve hours, straight. No wonder she felt weak. Rukia slowly sat on her bed. The damp towel, now dried and warm, felt onto Rukia's lap. Rukia took it and tried to remember when she put the towel on her forehead? At her bedside, there was a basin and she put the towel inside it.
She noticed there was a piece of paper. Rukia took it and looked to the neat writing of Kuchiki Byakuya.
'Rukia, Unohana-taichou said that you have been forcing yourself. Now I want you to rest and clear your mind off. You got fever too. Get some sleep and rest! There are pills from Unohana-taichou that will help you to clear your mind and help you with the fever. Eat them and go back to sleep'.
Rukia looked back at the basin. There were two pills; a blue and a baby blue coloured pills. Rukia took both of them and swallowed them with a glass of water. Then she laid back and couple seconds later, she was asleep.
Back from school, Kurosaki Isshin brought his son to the Karakura Medical Centre to meet with Dr. Nakashima Ryou and to discuss about Ichigo's operation. For half an hour, Isshin had been talking to the doctor while Ichigo… he didn't interested in the conversation. He wasn't paying any attention to both doctors in front of him. Not until his dad smacked him on the head.
"What was that for?" he asked angrily.
"For not paying attention to what we just said to you!" replied his father.
"Sorry" he murmured.
Then the doctor cut the conversation between the two family members. "So, Kurosaki Ichigo-kun, when are you going to have this operation? The earlier the better" said Nakashima Ryou-sensei.
"Three…four weeks from now? I can't have it earlier than these. Probably won't be around in that time" Ichigo answered his doctor question. He didn't know why, but his instict said that he won't be around.
"What? That's a month from now. Ichigo-kun, in four weeks, the tumor will grow and grow and you can end up at level three. It's better for you to operate now since it's still in level one!" said Nakamura-sensei. Both him and Isshin were shocked.
"I don't know. I won't be in Karakura at the nearest time. There is something that I had to do. Something important. I know it!" the carrot-top replied.
"Well…What can I say? It's up to you. Four weeks from now…okay? You come back here after four weeks and we'll operate you the day after" with a heavy-heart, the doctor had to agree with his patient. Ichigo didn't give any reply. He just nodded his head for couple of times; same for Isshin.
"Alright… I think we don't here today, Kurosaki Isshin-san. There is no futher discuss. Thanks for coming" all three of them got on their feet. Both doctors shook hands.
"Kurosaki Ichigo-kun, make sure that you eat you medicines…if you didn't want your tuberculosis to become worse" Dr. Nakashima Ryou said. Ichigo nodded and said thanks. Then he tailed his father ut from the office.
That night, the Kurosakis had yet another silent dinner. No one said a word and it just didn't like the Kurosakis. After dinner, Ichigo brought a bottle of water upstairs. Taking his medicines and drank couple times. Then he went to his study table and took the picture of him and Rukia.
He laid on his bed with the picture in his hand. Ichigo stared at the picture for sometime. He really missed her. He thought about Rukia, the memories that they shared together until he finally fell asleep.