ra7matigorti2, Guest, andyantopia, Taiski,Yukihime, Guest, tituslepetitlion, saiya-jinPan140, Hekka, annia9semi, EmpressMinea, Guest, zcEskA12352 - thank you for your reviews. i really had some interesting opinions on this the last chapter.

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Two zanpakuto's feelings

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Ukitake was nowhere in the office. He was outside Seireitei and he was not to return for the rest of the week. Apparently the Prisoner issue mobilized the whole noble families in Seireitei which gathered in a meeting at Hamacha to exchange information about every noble house's traitors who was imprisoned and managed to escape to the human world.

About all this Rukia couldn't help thinking that they had chose the worst timing possible. It was strange, though. Only two month ago she was fighting the Prisoners to death, ready to perform her shinigami duties and defend the pride of her clan, but today all these sounded nonetheless strange to her, just like the memory of a dream. She never thought that this day will come, when she will say "I have too many things to take care of so that I could still be worried about what happens with Seireitei and Gotei 13"

She leaned on her lieutenant chair from her office and sighed.

"When did I end up in such a situation?"

She was not quite proud of herself, but at the same time she couldn't find the words to blame herself. This was not the first time she broke the rules. Offering her powers to a human was not bellower than sleeping with one.

"Yes… I know how I ended up in this situation. As usual, I went on listening to my heart, without even thinking."

She took a piece of paper and started to write her resignation from Gotei 13. She hoped that by the time she'll be done, Ukitake will return to his headquarters, so she could finally return to Karakura.

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"I heard that Rukia returned to Seireitei." Renji said after he finished arranging the files in stacks of his captain's office.

"Who is Rukia?" Byakuya replied with his always the same impersonal voice and Renji turned to him confused.

"Taicho, what do you-"

"I don't know anyone called by this name." Byakuya added on the same manner and Renji a cold shiver on his back. He didn't even found the courage to ask what happen between the two of them, because he presumed how serious the matter could be. His captain had never pretended to not knowing Rukia… not even when she "ashamed" the Kuchiki clan with her death sentence.

"Renji, if you're done with the files, please return to your office."

Without a word he slowly headed to the door, but in the threshold he stopped for a moment and said:

"Taicho, I think I will take my lunch break earlier today."

After he said that he left the office with a shunpo, heading to the Kuchiki manor. He had a feeling that he will find Rukia there. He wanted to know what happened and if possible help her. The truth was that he had a bad feeling about that day ever since he woke up, considering how confusing and strange was the night before.

How he came back from Karakura tormented by the fact he entrusted Rukia to Ichigo and how he unconsciously headed to Haruna's house looking for consolation only so he could find his captain in her room and and her father on the porch crying "She's deliberately letting him devouring her… and I can't do anything for her". He wondered if those words were about Haruna and his captain. He though that they certainly had a past and a connection beyond reason. She appeared to be his captain's most special person, but what about him? Who was his most special person? The one who could read through his heart before he could even confess his feelings? The one who could hold in arms and know that belongs to him? Last night, as he left the Ryoing's manor a strange thought crossed his mind: "What if I had known Haruna before Taicho did?..." But before Haruna met his captain, he had met Rukia and before he could hold Rukia in his arms, she had met Ichigo.

It appeared that nonetheless everyone got to meet their special one, while he unfairly and unceasingly ended up alone…

He sneaked into the Kuchiki gardens fast enough so that he won't be noticed by the guards . He entered Rukia's room and prepared himself to hear some terrible news. Surprisingly he didn't find Rukia in the room, but Haruna, laying on the floor with her eyes facing the ceiling and her hands lifted, as she played with two kenseikans. When she noticed his presence, she turned to him with a strange smile:

"Lieutenant Renji Abarai… my most guilty and at the same time innocent caprice." She intoned.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

She looked at him confused as she stood up.

"What do you mean by that? This is my room…"

He frowned.

"Come seat with me for a while because I'm tired and I need to rest. After that maybe I'll tell you where Rukia is…" she said and as if those words were enchanted, putting a spell on him, he approached her and stood next to the noble woaman. She gently took his head and laid It on her lap, as she started to play with his hair.

"Tell me, Renji, do you remember the dream you had last night? Because I do and it was the sweetest nightmare I've ever had. The sweetest, but nonetheless, a nightmare…"

"Was I there, in your dream?"

"I told you Renji, it was nightmare. Therefore you couldn't have been in it…"

"Where is Rukia?" he suddenly asked.

"Oh, don't worry about her. Her nightmare had just began." She answered.

He felt those words as a cold shiver through his body. It was the same with the one he had earlier, in his captain's office.

"But still, where is Rukia?"

"Here." She answered and when he turned to her confused, she added. "I am Rukia now, Renji…"

In that moment he felt that the world ended in one night and he failed to whiteness it. The world ended and everybody turned mad. Everyone except him.

He wanted to see Rukia. He hoped that she hadn't turned mad either.

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Rukia finished writing her resignation and read it for a couple of times. She told herself that she wanted to check the spelling and the correctitude of her sentences, but in reality with every word read she was imagining Ukitake's disappointed expression. She knew that the disappointment will be bigger since she will not gave him any reason for her suddenly retirement as a shinigami. Of course, she couldn't explain him that she will leave Soul Society and start live in the human world. Moreover she couldn't explain him the reason she was doing it. It's not that she felt guilty of her actions, but she couldn't shame Byakuya, more than she already did.

She looked at the clock on the wall. It was already after noon. She had promised Ichigo, that she will be back before noon so she could already imagine him freaking out. She wished she could do something about it, but Ukitake wasn't back yet. It was enough that she was resigning without any specific reason, so she couldn't leave without even facing him. Therefore she kept waiting.

Seconds turned minutes and minutes turned into hours. From time to time, her subordinates were coming to her door, but she didn't answer to any of them. After a while she began to hear them heading back to their homes and she wondered if it was already evening.

Ukitake was still not back and she thought of Ichigo. She thought of how she will tell him. She wondered how will she react. Will he be happy? Will he be shocked?

She read the resignation letter once again and decided to spend the night at the office. If Ukitake will not return by the next noon, she will just leave the letter on his desk, seal her zanpakuto on the locker and…

Here , her string of thoughts was interrupted and her eyes turned to the zanpakuto that stood against the opposite wall. Of all the things she had thought of giving up, she had failed to take in consideration one of the most important: Sode no shirayuki.

She already lost half of her heart when she left Byakuya and it felt hard to breathe, so she wondered how will it feel when she will leave half of her soul. She knew there was no way she could take Sode no Shirayuki with her. She had no right to hold a zanpakuto once she will resign.

But she already resigned. That meant Sode no Shirauyki didn't belong to her already.

"As if I didn't have too many farewells for one day" she whispered sadly and got up from her desk taking her zanpakuto. She exited her office and headed to the room where all the zanpakutos were sealed, but when she opened the door, she sensed a presence behind her.

"Don't."

She stopped in the threshold with a broken smile.

"Don't do it, Rukia-sama…"

She recognized that voice. Than kind and distinguished voice that was actually so different from the owner's personality. She slowly turned and faced her materialized zanpakuto: Sode no Shirayuki. They looked at each other for a moment in the silence and loneliness of that evening. There was no one else around. There was nothing else around. Only the warm and orange light of the sunset.

"…We can't live without each other. We are one and the same." The zanpakuto finally said.

Rukia leaned on the wall behind her and hold tight the handle of the sword.

"If that is so, how come you loved Byakuya before I even know what love is?".

"If that is so, how come you were more powerful in Ichigo's hands than you ever were in mine?"

"If that is so, how come you are so strong and I am so weak?"

But Sode no Shirayuki approached her master and whispered:

"You are the strong one, not me."

Then she leaned and embraced her.

"I know you will come back for me one day and that will be the day when you will understand my words. One day you'll be back, Rukia-sama and so will Byakuya-sama. Therefore, don't say good bye…"

"I love him, too, but I can't. Now I have to…" Rukia began, but the zanpakuto put a finger over her lips.

"I know… I know better than anyone…"

And after that she stepped back from her master whispering:

"Last way of binding…"

After that Rukia found herself alone in that warm light of the Seireitei's sunset. She couldn't feel any reiastu. She couldn't feel any spirit. She didn't have her shinigami powers anymore…

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After he finished his work, Byakuya returned home. He skipped dinner and closed himself in his study. For a while he listened to the bachata CD that Rukia gave to him as a present and he thought of how a music that for decades made him think of Haruna only, ended up making him remember the best moments he had with Rukia. He thought of that, but after a while only the silence filled the room, along his mind.

He didn't even notice when darkness filled the room. He kept staying at his desk, starring at a white envelope on his desk.

"I wonder, between us, which one will miss her more?" he suddenly asked and turned his gaze to the corner of the room, where a materialized Senbozakura was staying still as a statue.

"If I were in your place I would have stopped her." The zanpakuto answered with a frustrated voice.

"I guess that If I still were a teenager I would have done that. Fortunately I'm not and therefore I understand that love is about wishing the other's happiness." He replied and got up from the desk.

"I love her, too!" the zanpakuto suddenly said and stepped into the moonlight where he took off his mask, drying his tears off.

"I didn't know that zanpaktos could cry…" Byakuya said with a tired voice, even though he knew those were the tears he could no longer shed.

"I loved her before you even knew what love is…" Senbozakura whined.

And Byakuya didn't argue his zanpakuto's words. Still holding the envelope, he took his captain haiori and headed to the door.

"I'm heading to the noble's gathering in Hamacha. No one is to enter this house until my return. " He informed his personal servant who was waiting for him at the door. Then he handed him the envelope and said: "Go at the 13th Division's headquarters and hand this to Rukia, asking her not to open until she's arriving to the place she plans to go."

After the servant made a bow, he walked down the hall, adding as he was furthering away:

"And after Renji and Haruna wake up, remind them that the Kuchiki manor is no 'summer vacation house' and send them away at once."

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The same speed that turned the day into night in Seireitei in what seemed to be second, apparently applied to Karakura as well. After Ichigo left the house with an angry shumpo, Isshin went outside the house trying to catch a trace of him, but it was useless. Ichigo simply vanished. He worried that he might do something stupid like going to Seireitei and crush the Kuchiki engagement party.

„She did it, hasn't she? She messed it up!" Karin angrily said from the threshold, when her father returned. „Now you see why i preferred Inoue? She was sure of her feelings she would have never left!"

„Karin, please... not now."

„Not now? But when? I'm taking the phone and call Inoue in this instant!"

„Karin, Orihime is getting married to Ishida! Don't you think that enough people have suffered enough already?"

But before Karin reply the house phone's ringed and Isshin entered the house to get it.

„Speaking of the devil..." he whispered surprised. „It's Orhime..."

Karin's eyes widened, as her father took the call.

„It's been a while Hime-chan! How are you settling in Tokyo?

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Oh, you're not in Tokyo?

... I see.

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No, of course. It's no problem.

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Yes he's here, but don't worry about it.

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The jewelry box? I got it! I'll look for it. You just call me when you get to Karakura. I'll be waiting for you!"

After that he hanged up and turned to Karin dazzled.

„She's coming to Karakura."

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Ichigo was wandering around the streets. Or was it the roof of the high buildings? He was walking. Or was he shunpo-ing? He didn't know anymore. He had lost any notion of time, as well as any notion of sanity.

„ ‚That...bitch'?! Ha! I swear that I enjoyed hearing that one. I could say that i was almost proud of you, if of course the real 'bitch' wouldn't have been you, King!"

„Shut up!" he growled.

„Oh, i whish... but you see, i simply can't! It thrills me too much to see how stupid and how weak you are right now… which makes me remember a promise that I made to you long ago!"

Ichigo stopped, as a cold shiver froze his back.

"Do you remember? The day you will let yourself open it will be the day I will slice you open! "

And a mad, hysteric laugh echoed violently in Ichigo's mind.

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That's it for the moment! The rest will probably come next week.