The forth chapter is out! ... so ...BAN KAI!
Oh! and i want to add a special thanks to Rndd.
Two weeks passed as a single day and slowly Rukia got back to her usual life. She retook her office duties as a vicecaptains and when the program was over she went out with Renji. She was always careful to be at home around 8 pm so she can have dinner with her brother and listen to the news of the clan and during the week-end hang out with her subordinates from the 13th Division.
Nothing special seemed to intervene in her life as shinigami or as the heir of Kuchiki clan so she slowly started to forget about her incidents in the real world or the dropping of the spiritual pressure. That day when she woke up, the only concern she had in mind was the selection of new recruits she had to deal with at the headquarters.
She got up from bed, dressed quickly and headed the dining room. There she found Byakuya already finishing his breakfast and preparing to leave.
"Good morning Nii-sama..." she said "You're up early today."
"Indeed, I'm sorry I couldn't wait for you at breakfast, but it seems that something urgent came up and all captains had been requested by Yamamoto."
"Is something that bad?"
" I do not know yet…but it seems that the results of the Ukitake's investigation concerning the level of the spiritual pressure confirmed your report. I will give you the details as soon as I will have them. Until then I will ask you to take my place this afternoon, since a visit was announced"
"A visit?"
" You remember the Nanakuma's son? His fiancé asked for an appointment today. I will need you to fill me in"
"I understand Nii-sama"
"Very well , I'll take my leave then. I expect to see back at dinner time"
"Certanly ! Have a good day Nii-sama!"
She watched her bother leaving and then she approached the table, looking at the food without appetite. She disliked eating alone. She disliked eating without her brother.
"Mariko!" she shouted. "Mariko!"
She maid immediately appeared in the room.
"Yes my lady!"
"Tell me, at what time Nanakuma's fiancé will come?"
"She announced herself at the lunch hour"
"Very well… Have me prepared until noon a kimono for her visit! Meanwhile i'll go to the my headquarters and be back in 2 hours"
Ichigo was already up.
It was early but he couldn't sleep anymore since he knew that today was the day he was going back Karakura. The train was leaving at noon and the luggage has been made since yesterday so there wasn't anything else to do but wait. He got up from bed and went downstairs to make a coffee. The house was empty since all his colleges went already back to their home. He smiled. Today, he was also heading home. For that reason he was in a such good mood that he prepared coffee for both of them ( he and Orihime) and after he went back to the room, he approached her, he kissed her on her chick and he whispered: "Wake up, love! Today we're going home!"
As she promised, 2 hours later she was back. Wearing an expensive kimono and a complicate hairstyle she got out from her room as she was announced that Nanakuma's fiancé was expecting her.
Before entering the guest room she stopped for a moment and looked at the little girl standing alone in the middle of the room and who with a lot of emotions .She looked so delicate and fragile.
"I am sorry to keep you waiting" begun Rukia.
The girl startled at the sound of her voice and she turn to her making deep bow.
"Lady Kuchiki!" she said full of admiration.
Rukia'e eyes widened. She had never seen this girl in her entire life and yet she knew her name.
"I am sorry, I don't think we have met…You seem to know my name but I do not know yours"
"You are right…I mean, I am sorry…I mean…I am Natsumi Shokun, the daughter of the deceased Lord Shokun of the Kuchiki Clan by alliance."
"Nice to meet you Natsumi…You don't have to be so tense around me. I'm not a terrifiant person."
Natsumi smiled relieved:
"Oh! I see…People do say that you are different from you brother, our Lord"
Rukia's eyes widened again.
"What do you mean by that?" she said alarmed.
"Oh! I am sorry…I didn't meant to offend you or the Lord!"
Rukia frowned and decided to abandon the topic. She put herself at the table where the lunch was prepared for her and the guest.
" Unfortunately Lord Kuchiki couldn't make it to the lunch and I will fill him in" she begun "…So whatever matter you would like to discuss I am willing to listen to you"
Natsumi made an enthusiastic childish face and approached the table.
"I'm so happy… Actually I was hoping to meet you today, but I thought it will be impolite to demand an audience to you before asking the opinion of our Lord"
"You preferred me?" asked Rukia surprised.
Natsumi bowed her face, blushing.
"Well…everyone in the family says that if we can convince you in this matter we will certainly have the support of Lord Kuchiki."
Rukia lift her eyebrows. Was that the way that the clan saw her? An antechamber who lead to her brother|?
"And what will this matter be?" she asked.
Natsumi gasped full of emotion, as if she was preparing to recite a poem she had long repeated.
"I don't know if the lady it's aware of the Nanakuma-kun inheritance conflict…"
"I am aware of that" she coldly said as she wasn't in the mood for long introductions.
"Oh…I see…then you should know already that Nanakuma-kun also intend to get married"
"Yes…I am aware of that too. And as far as I know you are his fiancé."
Natsumi's eyes open wide, full of emotion.
"Am i? she said joyful.
"Well…are you?" asked Rukia confused.
"I should be…" Natsumi added sadly. "He did ask me to marry him, but the engagement it worthless if the relative and the clan won't recognize it."
"And what is the reason for which is has not been recognized?"
"The inheritance!" Natsumi immediately responded."Nanakuma-kun told me the clan will accept his inheritance only when he'll get marry. As long as he'll have no family to support, they will not offer him a cent. So that's why the relatives won't accept the engagement, so they won't offer him the inheritance."
"Are you sure about these informations?" Rukia said distrustful.
Natsumi blinked confused.
"As far as I know …" continued Rukia "...The Lord decied to offer Nanakuma's inheritance gradually for the next 15 years."
"He did?...Oh! The Lord must be such sensitive person!"
Rukia frowned. This girl was very confusing. Just a few minutes ago she said that Byakuya was a terrifying person. Still… her dazzling and naive way of being was familiar for her in a way. She tried to remember to whom was she reassembling.
"I guess the reason why the engagement it's been denied it's different …" she added.
Natsumi blinked confused.
"But what other reason could be except form the inheritance?"
"I do not know yet but I will ask Lord Kuchiki's opinion."
"Well..do that, please! Ask Byakuya-sama's help!"
Rukia's eyes widened again. Had this girl just called the brother, the lord, Byakuya?
"Oh! My lady" continued Natsumi …you should understand me because you are also a women and you must have loved once. I am so scared that family conflicts will tear me and Nanakuma-kun apart! I am so scared of that! And I am not a strong person like you, Lady Kuchiki!"
"Well…I am not that…" Rukia mumbled.
"Oh! Yes, you are! Every woman in this clan admires you and dream to be like you. I am very happy to have met you today! I am sure that you can help me"
Rukia smiled. No matter how weird this girl was, she was honest and had good intentions.
"I'll do my best!" she finally said. "You should just go ahead and make the wedding plans!"
"Wedding plans?" Natsumi asked surprised as if she had never heard those words before.
"Well if you are already engaged…should you think about the wedding, right?...the dress…the guests…the reception…and all the details."
Natsumi looked frightened.
"My lady…I am no good of that! You should help me do the planning!"
Rukia was shocked. She wished she could have taken her words back.
"I don't…I mean I…" she tried to say.
"You have to promise me that you'll help me with the reception! I no good at that and you are the only person I can trust now!"
Rukia gasped. She knew she had no way out:
"I guess…if I will have the time…"
"Oh! Thank you so much! You are the best consort that our Lord could have ever got!"
"Sorry? I beg your pardon?" Rukia shouted.
Natsumi looked surprised as she didn't know what she had just said wrong:
"Don't try to hide it, my lady…it's not a secret anymore…the whole clan know the feeling our Lord have for you and vice versa."
Rukia was more then shocked.
Ichigo took the entire luggage downstairs.
"Inoue! Have you already called a cab?"
"No company it's answering!" she shouted from his room.
"Well keep trying! The train leaves in an hour!"
"No need to pressure yourself! If we'll loose it, we can still take the next one!"
"What? And stay another day in Tokyo?... Keep trying to get a cab, Inoue! " he shouted.
Short after Natsumi took her leave, Rukia received a note from Byakuya saying that the situation it's pretty tense at the headquarters and that he will not be able to make it to dinner.
The next moment, Rukia changed into her shinigami robe and shunpo-ed to the headquarters.
Firstly she intended to stop at her division, but then a strange impulse made change the direction, heading herself to he 6th Division.
As soon as she entered the entered building she burst into Renji:
"Yo, Rukia! What a nice hairstyle you have today!
She stopped putting her hands over her head. She was in hurry to get to the headquarters so she forgot to undo the complicated loop of hair that she worn for the visit.
"Cut it off, Renji!" she said.
"Oi! Oi! I wasn't making fun of you! It really suits you!"
"Well I haven't got time for this!...Where is Nii-sama?"
"This is the way you're greeting me when we haven't seen in ages?"
"Stop it, Renji! We haven't seen each other for 2 days not 2 ages so…"
"2 days…but I already miss you!"
"You missed a person to drink with not me!"
"Maybe you're right but…"
"Renji" she begun annoyed. "Just tell me, is Nii-sama in his office? I heard that there were problems at the headquarters"
Here, Renji suddenly became serious.
"You won't get to many information … I also heard about the meeting with Yamamoto this morning, but no details were given. But if you want you can try, Taicho is in his office!"
"Ok, thank you Renji" she said and hurried to the office.
"Wait!" Renji shouted from behind. "Will I see you tonight?"
"Ok…Ok…I'll catch up with you later!"
"Promise?"
"I promise, Renji!" She shouted and disappeared.
Before knocking on the office door of her brother she stopped and gasped putting herself together.
"Who's there?" she heard his voice.
"Rukia" she answered and entered.
She found him sitting at his office with a lot of documents around him. He lifted his head in her direction.
"Nii-sama, please tell is something wrong in the real world?"
He watched her silently but he didn't answered. Instead he added:
"Rukia…you shouldn't enter into a room before being invited"
"I..i am sorry, Nii-sama…it's just that i…"
"Did you get my note?" he asked.
"I did…that's why I am here…"
"Well if it's something concerning your shinigami duties…you should have went first to your own headquarters"
"At first I indented that…but then.."
Here she stopped as she noticed that Byakuya was being his old self again.
"If you are here it means that something went wrong with the meeting this afternoon. Am I right?"
"No…the meeting went smoothly" she answered.
"And why was Miss Shoukun that eager to visit the Kuchiki manor?"
"She asked for recognition of her engagement"
"I am afraid that this would not be possible"
"I don't understand…She said that she didn't obtain the recognition because the relatives won't give to Nanakuma his inheritance, but as far as I know you already offered him the money and all the possessions"
"You're right" Byakuya said as he was signing one of the documents. "The story that miss Shokun told you must be a lie that Nanakuma told her in order to do not scare her away. But still, I am afraid the engagement it's not possible and the reason it's not the inheritance."
"Then what is the reason?"
"Nanakuma and Shokun are cousins." Byakuya added emotionless while he put the documents away.
Rukia looked at him surprised.
"I see..." she said.
But then she remembered the last words Natsumi told her and she added with a low voice:
"Cousins, you say Nii-sama…but to be honest I don't think this would be a problem for her or the clan"
"I beg you pardon?" said Byakuya.
"I mean the whole clan believes that us…"
"That us what, Rukia?"…he said with a cold voice as he already knew where this conversation was heading.
"Nothing, Ni-sama" she answered "…They're all gossips and I'm sure that you are aware of them more then me."
Byakuya gave her a tense gaze, but more than she got intimidate, she became uncomfortable with the conversation.
"I am sorry Nii-sama, I think a crossed the line. I will take my leave to the 13th Division as you advised me" she added and headed to the door. The next second she stopped though, as a hell butterfly entered the room and stopped in front of her: "All the lieutenants are called to offer themselves for a mission in the real world as a new enemy had stroked"
After the butterfly disappeared, with eyes widened in fear she found herself whispering: "Ichigo!"
With an angry look she turned to Byakuya:
"Why haven't you told me from the beginning, Nii-sama?"
He didn't answer, but before he could make a move, she disappeared from his office. She shunpo-ed faster than ever and she stopped only in front of Ukitake's office:
"I will go!" She shouted as she entered without knocking. "I will go to the real world"
Ichigo was already in the train which departed an hour ago. He looked at Orihime who fell asleep with the head on his shoulders. He couldn't sleep. He was lost again in thoughts and memories which made Rukia's image in his mind stronger then ever. He had the weird impression that if we'll go in Karakura… he will meet her.
He turned his eyes to the fugitive landscape of the window and started to play with his necklace. He always did that when he was nervous. It was the necklace he received from Soul Society the day he became student. It was the sealer of his powers! Oh! How he wanted to break it and throw it away!
"You were right, Rukia. The spiritual pressure was dropping as if something was eating it. At the present moment, it almost disappeared." Begun Ukitake to explain. " Since hollows feed themselves only on human souls, the only ones who need the spiritual pressure in order to survive are the shinigmis. The suspicion that this incident might have a connection to Soul Society was confirmed this morning: the prisoners of the last level escaped.
"Prisonners of the last level?" asked Rukia confused.
"It's naturally that you are not aware of it since the last level was closed and abandoned due to its cruelty when, Yamamoto took the leadership. The Last Level was the deepest one of our prison and it was used only for traitors and declared enemies. There, they were closed in chambers which absorbed their energy in a slow and painful manner. Imagine that you'll be living in a place with not enough air to breath, and then you will understand the position of these prisoners and how important it's the spiritual pressure for the Soul Society."
"This it so cruel…It means a painful death…"
"It should have meant a painful death" added Ukitake. "But it seems that none of them died and moreover they have taught themselves to survive on less spiritual pressure"
"And now they escaped?...But how did they get to the real world since the prison is in Seireitei?"
"When Yamamoto decided to close the last level, he had two options: first was to close the level and move the prisoners, second was to seal the level among with all prisoners. The Gotei decided to move the prisoners but when the door of the Last Level was open what they found in there were no longer shinigamis. Learning to survive on less spiritual pressure changed their form and structure. Fearing what might follow this the Gotei finally decided to seal the last level forever. Since the Seireitei seals were unbreakable, the prisoners found a way break into the Precipe World and from there to the real world"
"And there they've absorbed the whole spiritual pressure in order to become stronger." concluded Rukia.
" Yes, but we do not know their purpose yet…We don't know yet if there are organized or if they are acting on their own. But if you'll go there, be aware! Their form it no longer of a shinigami…so we do not now what their powers might be."
"I understand! I will take my leave immediately!"
"No! You must wait until the evening so that Kurotsuchi Taicho will provide you a sealer in order to conserve you spiritual power. I don't know if you understood well, Rukia, but the Karakura Representative Shinigami came back last night collapsed due to asphyxiation. There's no way you can breathe normally there in your shinigami form."
The fugitive landscape made his eyelids heavier and heavier. He felt asleep without knowing it. Form far away it seemed that he heard his father's voice: "Masaki, you don't want to hang out with people like me. Why won't you go out and find some nice college boy, with good family and good manners?"
His voice was different: deep and gentle. It was almost unrecognizable.
"You just keep saying this because you know you'll be leaving soon. But don't give yourself a wrong impression; I know you'll be back"
This voice was a different one and it was much closer to him. He turned and he saw next to him a woman with amber eyes and long blond hair. His heart stopped:
"M-m-mom?"
The women turned to him smiling:
"Oh, Ichigo, don't worry! He always does this. He says that's his way of keeping himself out of trouble, but I know he's doing it only to protect me. Look, she said and turned to show him what seemed to be a street. He knew that place. It was one of the central avenues in Karakura. There, across the street, standing against the wall, with a cigarette in his mouth and a lonesome air, was…his father.
"Doesn't him look cool with that cigarette?" asked Masaki with the air of totally in loved person.
"Dad…cool?" said Ichigo laughing.
"He is! riposted Masaki. "But that's not the reason I like him…He just makes my heart beat so fast and he knows it, because he knows everything about my heart. That's why I love him. I don't care if he's a shinigami and when he'll understand that I'm sure he'll give in…Now he's just scared and he tries to runaway… just like your friend did."
"My friend?...What friend?.."
Masaki smiled and patted his ruffled hair.
Indeed, thought to himself, there was no need to mention her name.
He turned again at his father.
"You know, mom? Dad does look kind of cool with that cigarette…"
"I told you" she added and runaway to him.
He didn't follow her. From the opposite side of the street he kept watching his parents.
"Masaki…you came back?" he heard his father's surprised and touched voice. It was so different from the one he knew.
"No, it's just you who came back…I was just here waiting for you"
The train suddenly stopped and he opened his eyes.
" Kurosaki-kun…we already arrived?" Orihime asked with a sleepy voice.
Still dazzled by sleep and by the dream from which he was stealed, he tried to look out the window and figure where they were.
"No…" he finally said. "We still have a long way to go" and he closed his eyes again, trying to reproduce the dream he just had.
Orihime frowned. His words appeared to her to be more than what they seemed to be.
"Still a long way to go…"
Somehow those words made her wonder…Ever since she came to that party he was acting strange as if heis mind and thoughts were somewhere else.
It was almost evening and Rukia had her luggage prepared. Before heading to the Gate she stopped in front of Renji's house as she knew she had a promise to keep.
"What are you doing here? Weren't you supposed to be in the real world?" Renji asked surprised.
"Well of course I should! But how could I, when someone, whom I won't name, keeps asking me to drink with him every night?"
Renji grinned.
"How much time do you have left until your departure?"
"One hour…"
"Would you like me to walk you to the Gate?"
"I wouldn't mind…"
"Come on then! Give me your luggage, I'll carry for you"
"Thank you! I really appreciate it, since I'm already tired…. I don't know how much strength I have left for fighting."
"Did you have a rough day?"
"You could say that…I also received some news which truly shocked me…"
"Such as?"
"It's been told to me that I become a very influent character in Kuchiki clan…"
"And why was that shocking?...Ever since you become the Kuchik inheritor you are a well seen women in Seireitei…"
"I see that you are aware of all the gossips…You must also know then, the rumors about me and Nii-sama…getting close…"
"Will this kind of rumors bother you?"
"Oh, Renji! Stop it! It's not the proper time to enter in this kind of conversation!
"Well it does bother you then!" he added laughing. "But who told you these things?"
"A girl from the Shokun family…I don't think you…"
"Shokun?…I might know her. What's her first name?"
"Natsumi…"
"Nop, the name doesn't say anything to me"
"Well you didn't miss anything…"
"It seems to me or you don't really like her?…"
"It's not that…but the girl it's so strange…and naïve….she so much like…( here she stops for a second and suddenly her face get enlightened) Oh! I remembered! How could have I not seen it before!...Orihime! Yes! She's just like Orihime!"
"Who?" asked Renji confused.
" Inoue…Inoue Orihime, Ichigo's girlfriend!"
"Ah, right, Inoue…Wait! What? She's Ichigo's girlfriend?"
"For 6 years already…" she added monotonously.
"No wonder you couldn't like Natsumi then" Renji added.
"Shouldn't we hurry?" she suddenly asked trying to change the subject. " I think it's late already!"
"Chill, will ya? You still have one hour left!"
Ichigo looked at his watch. One hour left. He was getting nervous. He looked at Orihime who fell asleep again and gasped.
She was in front of the gate. She put on the seal she received from the 12th Division and then took her luggage.
"Take care!" Renji shouted. "And come back safe!... Oh! And don't forget: if you'll need my help just call!"
"I will Renji! I'm leaving now! See you later!"
The train decreased its speed so Ichigo got up and took the luggage.
"Come on Orihime, wake up! We're almost there!"
She stepped into the Gate…
The train stopped and he was heading for the exit.
"Is Karin-chan waiting for us?" asked Orihime.
"No, I told her we'll take a cab" he answered and stepped on the platform.
There he stopped looking around as if it was his first time seeing Karakura Train Station. Behind him Orihime also stopped, but with a troubled expression:
"There's no spiritual pressure around"
"Sorry?" Ichigo added.
Orihime frowned.
"It's something strange around here…"
"Well I don't sense anything…let's go and search for a cab"
The moment she stepped into her real world her eyes widened in shocked and she dropped her luggage. Her shinigami eyes saw a Karakura turned upside down. She could sense the spiritual pressure absorbed by creatures who looked neither shingami, neither hollows…but more like zombies. So these were the prisoners. Before putting herself any other questions, she instantly drawn out her zampakuto and shouted:
"Tsughi no mai: Hakuren!"
Fortunately those creatures were too many for the spiritual pressure which was left and too weak at the same time. She destroyed them with a single strike. Then she started to go along the whole town to clean it from those zombie shinigamis. And as she was walking above the streets she was unconsciously taking the road to the Kurosaki's manor, as it was the road she knew the best. There, she found shocked the biggest number of prisoners and hollows. She took her zanpakuto in order to draw her first dance but then she hesitated as she saw in that sea of haotic zombies, one with a stronger appearance. His skin had the same sick and soil color; his clothes (once maybe a shihakusho) were know all shredded and discolored... yet his body seemed well composed and his eyes full of life and power. His eyes which were fixing her!
"You…shinigami!" spoke the creature with disgust.
She knew what was coming next. Prepared, she tightened her zanpakuto while the creature was rushing to her… but then her attention was disturbed again by the presence of a familiar reiatsu. She turned and saw a yellow car stopping in front of the house. Orihime got out from it, followed by…Ichigo!
Ichigo!
Her heart stopped and she almost dropped her sword.
She could no longer move.
Orihime gasped scared and she activated her protective shield while Ichigo was confused.
But she couldn't move…
She didn't even observed Orihime's relieved expression when she saw her.
Rukia, the shinigami who supposed to save them all…She could no longer move.
She kept watching Ichigo shouting at Orihime…and that big Hollow approaching them…and that zombie creature who stopped at half of his distance, when his attention was caught by Orihime's shield. He growled and suddenly abandoned her, rushing to Orihime…and Ichigo!
In that moment she regained her senses and retook her zanpakuto. She knew she couldn't take them both, the hollow and the zombie creature by a single strike. She had no other chance but to…
"Oi! Zombie!" she shouted.
The creature stopped and turned to her full of anger:
"You… filthy …shinigmi! How dare you!"
Rukia frowned her eyebrows. She opened her mouth and spoke:
"BAN KAI"
The cab stopped and Ichigo got out to take the luggage. Orihime followed him, but he next moment she freezed in fear.
"What is it?" Ichigo asked.
"Ho….Ho…." she tried to pronounce but she was terrified by the scene of a multitude of hollows and zombie creatures absolving the spiritual pressure.
"Hollows?" shouted Ichigo. Are there hollows?"
Orhime didn't answer but she activated her shield as a big hollow approached. The hollow broke the shield and try to grab both of them. He didn't succeed but both of them were hurt.
"Orihime!" Ichigo shouted.
She got up trying to reactivate her shield but when she saw Ichigo bleeding she blocked in worry and she couldn't succeed.
"Ichigo!" she mumbled crying and she saw approaching a terrifying creature looking like a rotten espada. She thought everything was over… But then she turned as she heard a voice: "Rukia? Was that Rukia?"
'
The hollow was approaching again. He didn't see it, but he felt it! There was no other way! He got up and led his hand to the necklace…the sealer of his powers.
'
"Yes it's Rukia!" she told herself relieved and she reactivated the shield. She wanted to tell Ichigo that everything will be alright, but when she saw his hand over the necklace, the only thing she could shout was: "Wait! There's no need, Ichigo! Waaaaait!"
He couldn't listen to her: the necklace was already ripped.
His body felt unconscious. His shinigami powers were relieved in a space with no spiritual pressure: he couldn't breathe or move.
'Karakura covered in horror' , 'Orihime shouting in tears', 'Hollows', 'Zombies' . He saw them all in flashes of one second, and before he could recognize the familiar winter breeze, during the same second he heard:
BANKAI!
He saw two strips of white reiatsu making a spiral into the sky. The spiral slowly separated and transformed itself into propeller with started to destroy all the hollows and the zombies around. Above that propeller he saw the silhouette of a terrifying and beautiful snow goddess. Her long black hair was rising on the pressure of her reiatsu. Her clothes were white as the snow and her zanpakuto clear as the moon light. Her eyes were unforgivable. He knew those eyes. He knew that purple.
She drawn her sword and shouted: "Sing, Sode no Shirayuki!"
"Rukia…" his heart spoke.
That moment her zapakuto broke in ice splinter which followed the rotten creature. The splinters entered to his right arm, which broke as if it was make of glass.
The creature started to laugh:
"Is that all your Bankai can do?"
Rukia didn't answer and stood still above the propeller of her white reiatsu. The creature then approached her violently and the reiatsu formed again a spiral protecting her.
"Get out of there, you coward"
"Believe me…" Rukia said coldly "You don't want me come out of this shield"
Angered, the creature absorbed the last remains of spiritual pressure in the atmosphere and transformed them in his own power. He directed it to Rukia's shield, but her reiatsu seemed indestructible. Then the creature drew its zanpakuto:
"Let's see with what sword will you fight right now since you already used it trying to poison me…"
Rukia didn't say a word but she raised the handler of the zanpakuto and passed it trough her reiastu shield. The zanpakuto gained this manner a blade of glass.
The creature looked at her troubled.
" Tell me, creature…what it your name?" she asked with an ice voice.
The creature laughed:
" You stupid shinigami dog! I am no longer one of you so I can have a name…I am the prisoner nr 10"
" Wery well prisoner nr 10…I will teach you what it means to speak in a improper manner to he heir to the Kuchiki Clan."
Prisonner's eyes widened at the sound of that name.
"You, will die now!" she added while she got out of the shiled and shunpo-ed to the Prisoner. He drew his sword and the moment he encountered Rukia's zanpakuto, the last one broke in thousands of splinters.
The prisoner started to laugh at Rukia's defeat, but then he saw a cold smile on the her lips. He opened his mouth to shout but the next moment his body broke the same manner as his arm.
"The song is over" Rukia spoke.
The two strips of her reitatsu rotated once again, destroying the last trace of Hollows and Prisoners and then they both broke in a calm rain of snow.
She came down to the street and turned to Ichigo.
He saw that pair of sad, purple eyes approaching him. He saw her clothes made of silk and snow. He saw her long black hair… But he couldn't move.
He couldn't breathe.
He couldn't speak.
He could only feel her cold hands over his chicks.
"Why Ichigo? Why did you do such a stupid thing? Haven't I told you that I will protect everything dear to you?"
She put her hand on his forehead and then he felt he can breathe again. He got up and saw he was in his human form again.
"Kurosaki-kun! Kurosaki-kun! Are you alright? You're bleeding!" Orhime shouted crying.
But he couldn't look at her. His eyes were fixed on Rukia and her beautiful bankai form. So beautiful that he would have burst into tears if he didn't see in the first place her eyes wet. Just like him, she also couldn't see Orihime. She approached him and took him in her arms. She tried to hide by biting her lips and covering her face in his clothes but it was useless… He felt her tears on his shoulders.
"So cold…and yet she has such warm tears" he thought.
His eyes were wide open and he was watching he snow that her zanpakuto left behind. Due to the hot temperature it instantly melted, touching the ground as a quick summer rain.
"Rukia…" he whispered…" Rukia…It seems to rain again…"
She startled and hid her eyes from that sight. No…not the rain
"I'm sorry!...I'm so sorry, Ichigo!" she shouted through her tears.
And then he black out…
Thank you in advance for reding! Until next time, i'm waiting for your opinion :)