Disclaimer: This story is made completely from request from a friend which means the OC, Voltaire, is not mine. I am writing this story for Red Cr0w and I do hope it is to their liking and to everyone else's as well. I do NOT own Bleach or Voltaire.

Summary:Byakuya Kuchiki, a stoic noble and Captain of the 6th Division, for all important pretenses, holds back any and all objects of his past from anyone. Aside from Hisana, not even Rukia knows about the life he spent with a woman whom claimed his heart for nearly 8 years. Even as he stands alone as the leader of the Kuchiki clan, his heart still aches for the person he truly loved. He is able to keep up this façade until he is sent with a recon team to Zaraki to investigate a sudden surge of reiatsu. When they arrive, what will Byakuya do when he finds the woman who disappeared all those years ago beaten and broken and without any memory of him at all?

Castle of Glass

Chapter 13: Through the Secrets That I Have Seen

"Can you calm down for just one second?! It's not the end of the world!" Ukitake begged the young man who paced back and forth in front of his desk. He knew this was an issue to be dealt with because the man who paced to and fro was none other than Byakuya.

"I cannot." He answered plainly, taking another chunk out of the thumb nail that had already be bitten past the quick. "I...I cannot." The fear, the anxiety was evident in the shaky tone of his voice.

"There is no sense in getting so worried over this. You know her, don't you? She'll be fine." The constant reassurance the snowy haired man offered his pupil only slightly calmed his nerves, for what he was speaking of was not something to be taken lightly.

"Can you tell me again, verbatim? Exactly what happened, every detail you remember, from beginning to end?" Shunsui asked another time, rubbing his tire eyes and removing the slightly damp umbrella hat he had been wearing for at least the past 16 hours in the unconditioned room.

"How many times are we gonna go through this? I've told you everything!" V barked writhing under the hospital blankets from exhaustion.

"I know, I just want to make sure we have everything straight before we leave. I want to know what Aizen spoke to you for." He gave V a soulful look." It is absolutely necessary for us know what he wanted you for."

V understood his words in the back of her mind. Something told her that their was a memory stuck just at the edge of her present thoughts that let her know who Aizen really was, it was just at the tip and she couldn't get a hold of it. It was this that made her speak of the time she spent with the ex-captain.

"I can remember meeting him for the first time..." She paused, the thoughts forming in her mind. "I remember that he had the darkest eyes I had ever seen and his hair was a bit more curly than everyone had spoken of. I remember that he smelled kinda like lilies and that his had this smile..." V's face turned to an appropriate grimace. "It was like I knew it was a fake smile but I didn't want to insult him by calling him out on it. He was really polite, pulling out my chair for me and paying for our food, he even-" She was cut off.

"What were the two of you doing?"

"We had met upon his request...for...something..." V closed her eyes and tried to recall the reason but nothing came to her. "He invited me to lunch and we talked, and talked, and I haven't any clue what it was we were talking about but...it seems...important..." Flashes of the day so long ago came back to her as she spoke. "He offered me something and I don't take it at first. But, he talked to me for a little longer...I think I take his offer...for something...to help me..."

"He made you an offer to help you? Help you with what?" Shunsui had long since invited others to the room, including the captains of the 2nd, 8th, and 10th. It was Toshiro who asked this question.

"I'm not sure..." V slowly starts to cower into herself as the headache returns and her memories begin to reorganize themselves. She could feel the wall that was put up to keep people out of her memory slowly coming down as it was not force that would demolish it, but her own will. V couldn't handle the weight of her recognition and her mind was going to collapse. "I think it might have been about a Zanpakutou?"

"Did he say what kind of Zanpakutou, or why he thought you might know about it?" Soi Fon began to badger her with questions.

"No...but maybe it could've been something about Kido or this magik stuff...I can't..." Kyoraku could see the light slowly fading from V's eyes and started to motion for the three captains to leave.

"Magik? What do you mean magik? Did he explain this to you or what he thought of you being involved in it?" The questions were breaking V down and she huddled with her knees to her chest and her arms wrapped around her legs.

"I don't know! I don't think so...I..." V nearly cried under the pressure.

"We need to know!

"Soi Fon." Shunsui stopped the overzealous Guard Captain. "That's enough. She's had enough questions today." The Head Captain ushered the three of them out of the room, shut the door behind them, and took a seat at the end of the bed where the blanket had crumpled up.

"Are you alright?"

"I just...I'm sorry. I know I have to remember, but..." The tears pooled in V's eyes.

"Don't worry. I promise you, even if you don't remember everything, it'll be fine. We'll work slow, okay? We'll learn how to get your memories back and fix whatever happened. I have a feeling things will change soon any how and this," he referenced to the situation. "Is only temporary."

"That's just it." V said, the tears nearly pouring over. "I don't know that it is temporary. It sometimes feels like this wall that's keeping me from what I don't know about myself is crumbling away so easily, and other times...I feel like I'll never see over the other side of it." She was practically bawling her eyes out now. "And it's not just me...what if...what if I was working with that Aizen guy for whatever reason? What am I supposed to do? What do I tell Byakuya? He's waiting in his office for me hoping I haven't been arrested or sentenced to death, but who knows what I've done or whether or not I'd deserve a death sentence?" She buried her head in her arms and cried silently. "I just want to remember..."

The night sky crept in, wispy clouds covered the waning crescent moon and Byakuya was sitting in the chair in his office stilling waiting on news about V. Earlier that day, he had heard she was questioned by and few captains that were central to her investigation throughout the recent years pending the captain position shifts. He wasn't told what she said, how it went or if she was coming by any time soon. He was left sitting there alone for 6 hours wondering if he'll get to see the woman he'd live, and die, for again.

It was around 10 or so, long past the time when the young captain would normally find refuge in his futon, when someone came knocking on his door, making him flinch and smudge the ink on the sheets of paper he had signed. Even though he tried to do work during the time he was in his office, he only made it through about 3 small stacks of it, and that was saying something. He wiped the side of his face in frustrated exhaustion before answering the door.

"Sir." Two orderlies stood at the door to escort the sleep deprived captain. "You're allowed to see her now, sir. She is finished with questioning, and..." One nurse traded a knowing look to the other. "She has calmed down. She wants to speak with you."

"She's calmed down? What happened?" The raven-haired heir practically barked at the two men sending fearful shivers down their spines.

"Uhh...she wants to tell you that herself, Captain. She's waiting for you." When those words left the nurse's mouth, the leader of the 6th nearly bolted out of the room towards the infirmary.

When Byakuya reached the doors to the 4th squad's barracks, leaving the orderlies behind, he stepped into the hallway the led to V's room and quietly approached it. Before knocking he waiting just outside the room, seeing that she was sitting cross-legged in the bed with the blanket beneath her and was fiddling with her fingers while waiting for him. She, every few seconds, twirled the hair that hung in the front on her face in her fingers and would then go back to playing with her fingers.

She flew almost 5 feet in the air when Byakuya cleared his throat to get her attention. She blushed lightly and stopped fidgeting as he walked inside.

"How long have you been standing there?" She asked watching him as he took a seat next her bed.

"Not long." He had a nervous visage. "I was just...uhm...watching you." He was uncharacteristically anxious, but let's face it he's been off since the beginning.

"Watching me?" V repeated. "You're such a strange person." She laughed at him when he looked at her confused. "I'm saying you say stuff so...honestly..."

"Is that strange?" Byakuya asked. The smile he put on his face when she nodded was just another thing to add to the list of reasons he's no longer the Byakuya we know. "So can you tell me..." He looked at V tentatively. "Tell me what happened." V's blush faded.

The was a long silence between them before V started. "I know that last time we talked, something happened to me and I wasn't myself." She looked the man before her in his smokey eyes, knowing he knew exactly what she meant. "I know because it happened a few more times...since then. I'm almost sure now that there was something put up to keep me from the memories I'm not ready to learn. But they're seeping through the cracks and I can remember certain thins about people I've met, things I've seen, and people...who mean something to me." The last few words that left her mouth felt strange to her. V hadn't had anyone that meant something to her for as long as she could remember and apparently that was only a few weeks ago. "I know we were something more than what I think we are. We were...together...weren't we?"

Byakuya's silence spoke more words than he ever could.

"I thought so." V looked down and started fidgeting again, a snicker left her mouth before she continued. "Damn, I did good." Byakuya breathed a laugh at that. "And it's not just that either, is it? There's so much more than that that you know about me, isn't there?"

"I...knew you since the time you tried to break into my house when we were younger."

"I broke into your home?! Are you serious?!" V laughed. "Wow. So if you know that, then you know a lot of other things about me too, right?"

"I don't want to overload you with-"

"No, I just...! I want to know the important stuff...I want to know who I am, what I mean to this Aizen guy, what I mean...to you." She blushed again.

"Are you sure you really want to do this?" Byakuya look worriedly at the woman who seemed determined to get the information out of him. "I don't want to hurt you."

"Please," V looked him in the eye. "Tell me who I am."

I know, I know! I haven't updated for really long time and I'm sorry but I've recently had some family issues and school has also gotten in the way so I haven't been able to do what I've wanted to do. I'm sorry! But I hope you like this chapter and please,

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