Chapter Fifteen: Civil War

You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' You must do the thing you think you cannot do.

-Eleanor Roosevelt

There was a tempest brewing over soul society that left normally pleasant blue skies a threatening mix of dark grays and blacks, no rain was falling but the occasional flicker of lightning or thunderous rumbles were enough to leave almost all of those that resided within or outside of the Sereitei's walls hiding underneath shelter. No strikes of the dangerous electrical storm had hit the city in the hours sense the bad weather had appeared but after the recent rumors of damages within the noble quarter at the last bout was enough to leave people nervous.

One would think that normally the people in Rukongai would be the most worried, but ignorance is bliss, of all the people wanting to hide away, they were the least knowledgeable as to the true reason for the bizarre changes in climate. The markets where shelter existed were still running, and the bravest of the kids were playing games of daring others to run out into the fields further than the others, distance before returning being the 'winner' of the young contest.

Within the court of pure souls the unrest was worse, the soldiers of the spiritual city knew the reasons behind the gathering clouds and though the majority would never admit it, they were glad to have the stone around and above them. Flash steps failed to be sluggish for the soul reaper's running messages. Even the captains eyed the sky with a dissatisfaction outside the long windows of the building where they were meeting with General Yamamoto.

Though it was a thin meeting indeed. The captains for the 3rd, 5th, 9th and 12thk had yet to be replaced after their various deaths. Zaraki Kenpachi of 11th squad was still being held in 4th squad barracks for recovery and control after his recent attack on the mortal world. Captain Soi Fon was busy with her own issues involving covert operations. the Prince's request for While some of their paperwork was being taken over by other captains things were growing thin. As it was the meeting was small indeed. The general, Unohana, Komamura, Kyoraku, Hitsugaya, and Ukitake therefore made up the small group attending the meeting.

"Eh..." Kyoraku sighed, rubbing his beard as he continued to watch the lines of light arching over the sky, beautiful but deadly. "I never saw him lose his temper, that happened before our days at the academy Ukitake, it's a bit amazing."

"Yeah." Ukitake agreed. The two speaking normally as the meeting had yet to be called to order, the general off to one side speaking with his lieutenant. "It's a bit frightening isn't it?"

"This is mild compared to what he is capable of." The soft spoken comment from Unohana drew the eyes of the rest of the room off troubled skies and to her. "Though, now that he is older, his spiritual pressure has refined itself greatly."

"Which is a concern we will discuss." General Yamamoto stated as he walked out and tapped his staff on the ground, the members of the court falling into their usual positions to either side of him in lines. Though there were enough openings to show how thin the soul society had been pulled in recent years and wars. "We finally have orders that have been sent by the king."

Chojiro Sasakibe began to hand out tied scrolls with the official seal of the king on them to each of the attendees. The serious lieutenant of first squad, not saying anything as he did his work, returning to where he commonly kept a record of what was discussed during the meetings, though he didn't take up a quill.

"Go ahead." The old man gestured. "Open and read them. We'll discuss in a moment."

Most of them read at the same general pace, though Kyoraku was the first to gasp and drop it to his side, looking up at his superior with widened eyes. "What is the meaning of this General?"

He hadn't finished the question before the rest of the group had joined him, some holding equally surprised expressions while others schooled their shock more easily.

"It is as the orders say. The king has relieved us of our compulsion to listen to the Prince, because he has grown too attached to our world. He's been too active in the politics and daily running of soul society on a level the royalty isn't meant to. We are to subvert him and return him to the royal palace before any more damage takes place." The General said calmly, not noting or reacting to the shocked expressions of his Captains. "We will go soon, all of us, and return him before he can learn of this and is still distracted by the last attack."

"It is insanity." Ukitake shook his head. "We do not even know how the King is progressing, none of us have ever even seen him..."

"Yeah." Kyoraku sighed, slumping his shoulders a little. "This is pretty crazy, we're already fighting a war and only have half our normal troops after everything...taking down the Prince would probably take down even more of us."

"Silence." The General slammed his staff down, slight annoyance creeping into the raised voice. "It is shameful of you to speak in such a manner of his majesty. The king knows what is best, you see the effect the world is having on the Prince. Can you not tell that it is only going to get worse?"

"General..." Komamura didn't speak up often during meetings but interjected here. "The Prince has reason for being distraught, you said so yourself after the events of the first attack. Are you not the only one that is controlled by the king himself? None of the rest of us have actually met him to be forced to obey his commands but you. This doesn't seem like the wisest course of action..."

"Silence, did I not tell you that already?" Yamamoto snapped a bit more that time. "Are all of you such children that you fear his presence so greatly? If I must then I will return him by myself."

All other protests fell on deaf ears, the General had vanished from the meeting room before the rest could raise their words. Leaving them quiet and glancing between one another with a lack of certainty. A long rumble echoed their worries and a flash of lightning spurred Hitsugaya to finally speak.

"Guess we need to pick a side." The youngest of the captains commented with a bitter sarcasm. "Looks like we have a civil war adding to everything else."

ooooo ooooo ooooo ooooo ooooo

"Well," Kagome grinned at the spacious seats of first class, she'd only flown a couple of times and both were economy and she'd been shoved in the isle where the waitress had kept slamming her elbows with the cart. "...this is really nice. The extra room is for sure much nicer than when I flew last time."

"It is still rather crowded." Byakuya returned darkly, his mood had been sour ever sense they'd left the hotel that morning and had been forced through the long lines of security and then again to get on the plane at all.

It was much larger than any others she'd been on, having three isles of seats with two openings between them and two levels. She was surprised anything so big managed to fly so often and so safely. She'd even gotten to have the window seat for once, while it was boring looking at the runway at the moment she was excited for take off.

"You really are delighted by this." Byakuya pointed out, as if taking it in for the first time. It made her laugh at the comment.

She nodded. "Of course, I never got to sit by the window before. I guess it's different from...other things...but it's still energizing to see this I bet. I'll have never been so high. The planes don't get as high jumping between the islands."

He nodded slowly in reply, though he didn't smile, his poker business face was set and she figured it was actually nicer than the frown he probably wanted to show. It was a eight hour flight down and then he'd said they needed to take a second flight to some city in the middle of the country where the court would be easiest to reach. Somewhere called Alice Springs. She'd never heard of it but she was still just glad to be finally getting to go.

It was the hum of the engines that she figured made her drift off, she never expected any sort of other reason to sleep, didn't realize that her miko powers were manifesting in more than her mostly failed attempts to learn magic...

The field was incredibly dark, flowing with winds that seemed to tunnel and threaten to form whirlwind's before curling back in on themselves as the clouds themselves seem to ungulate with malevolent energy. If it wasn't for a series of flashes she wouldn't have realized there was anything else to the horrific storm at all.

In the distance she could pick out a sparkle of gold, and while she couldn't hold on it long enough to truly make it out, she instantly had a feeling the metallic color belonged to the Prince they'd left in Soul Society. He was screaming, but the words were lost on the whistles of the wind though the pain in those yells was something that brought tears to her eyes.

She tried to reach forward but the moment she moved she was buffered instantly away, sent flying as the winds seemed to realize she was there for the first time and turned their attentions to tossing her around and away from her intended target.

Then she saw the soul society below her, it was on fire, pieces of it looked completely crushed, lines of destruction written chaotically into it's surface where the tempest had touched down and wiped away what had been. The city seemed to be falling apart and she for all her struggles to look back at the mark of gold at the center of the destruction, couldn't manage to see it anymore.

"No, stop, let me go..." She didn't know she'd been repeating the words aloud, though she felt the sweat on her brow as she opened her blurry eyes to see a worried expression on Byakuya whose hand was on her shoulder, he'd shaken her awake. Nearby two of the attendants looked incredibly worried and a small glance at the window let her know they hadn't even taken off yet.

"Are you okay miss? You should get off and see a doctor. One is waiting at the end of the runway if you think you can walk." The first of the two women commented politely, her expression also apprehensive. "We can't take off with you if you are sick."

"I'll carry her." Byakuya hadn't given her a chance to answer, and she couldn't explain while people were walking with them and gushing over her. She had a horrible feeling that what she saw wasn't just a dream after her last instance with visions. She did manage to get a few words out.

"Thirsty, need to talk, alone." It was broken but it got her point across, she could still feel the sting of the winds as they tossed her as easily as a piece of paper in a gentle breeze. She wondered if that wasn't what Senbonzakura felt like when it was released, but she knew that something was definitely wrong. This whole threat had just gotten much worse, she didn't know what to tell Byakuya but doubted that they could return without having taken their trip to find help.

After the doctor said she could return to her room but should wait at least another day before taking a plane she tried to relax but was afraid to close her eyes for fear the visions of the destruction of her new home would return. It took entirely too long to get back to a place where she could be alone with Byakuya, even he looked concerned but kept himself better than she did. She credited herself with not crying at least and when they'd finally reached a new room of their own she spilled everything she saw, she couldn't help it, it was like she needed to tell it all so it wasn't just on her shoulders. Even as she finished it was as if a bit of a burden had been lifted, though her concern hadn't lessened at all. As much as she was angry at the Prince, she didn't want to believe he could go mad and do such a horrible thing to the soul society.

"Are you all right now?" Byakuya asked as she finished, he'd been watching her seriously during the short period she spit out the story as fast as she could. "You were unresponsive on the plane."

"I'm okay now." She said with a nod. "I've had a few visions before, but they trick me sometimes, I just hope it's not completely true now like it was before..."

"Before?" A single eyebrow raise was the only extra effort he put into asking the question which made her smile a little, his constant strength helped to reassure her.

"Yes, I saw a vision of the Prince being cut down, but I thought it was just a nightmare, then it happened but it was just an illusion of the one guy's sword." Kagome explained hurriedly. "I knew I had to tell you after last time."

"It is regrettable news, I'll send word to Renji before we leave tomorrow, but we cannot go back." He said with responsibility putting a hand on her cheek and kissing her forehead. "You rest and I'll order us food again, seems we have at least one more night inside before having to start over again."

"I'm sorry..." She felt a bit guilty being the reason he'd have to redo everything he seemed to dislike so much.

"It's not your fault." He answered before vanishing from the room and she heard him speaking calmly on the phone as he ordered food for them. She had to force herself to take a deep breath and let it out, calming down was in order for certain. Whatever was happening at Soul Society, they couldn't afford anymore delays, help was definitely something they would need to return with if what she saw came to pass.

End Chapter

Cliffhangy like. More than lately. Moving things along, involving more characters than our main two. Lovely as they are, need plot and all :). Hope folks keep reading, reviewing, and most importantly, enjoying.

-Aura

To my reviewers:

Tsukiei - I made them up mostly, though I think a couple are related to death type things I remembered off hand. I just still am pretty sure there have to be other soul society's.

Sugar0o - The plot is going a bit against poor Kagome...but she always manages cause it usually is. There are some fun things to come. Plans plans.

Kathryn J. Blair - Thank you so much for all the lovely reviews, I can't really answer everything here but I hope to keep seeing feedback from you!