Supernova

By Willow Athena

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or any of its characters, but Rien and this story are definitely mine

Author's note: Happy Valentine's Day to all. Thank you to all my reviewers for all the encouragement. I was Supernova-saturated, so I took a small break last week and wrote and published some other light-hearted fanfiction, but I knew I'd be lynched if I didn't update this week. I'm so happy that all of you are enjoying the story, and I love all the awesome comments in the reviews about Rien and Byakuya, it really warms an author's heart. I'm happy we all think so similarly about the characters and the story, and that you enjoyed the light-hearted as well as the heavy stuff. I was trying to update this the whole of yesterday, but this website bugged out on me and wouldn't let me login, or even see the login page. Hope I wasn't the only one. Enjoy.

Warning: Rating for this story is M, since chapter 30, so if you're not whatever age this site says then stop reading now.

CHAPTER 33 – What is in a Name?

He had at first tried to sleep alone again, but found himself sinking into bed next to her in the middle of the night. At first he felt he was being ridiculous about it, but he soon gave in to the illogical nature of his whims when it came to her. She was a force of nature, he realised, and resistance was futile. They were not always physically intimate, and it was not about his desire for her, it was something far more simple and simultaneously inexpiable. She felt like home to him – a place where everything he was, was accepted and he was at peace, finally content. They didn't need to say anything or be anything or do anything, they just needed to be together, and that was enough. Even when other people were around and he was reprimanding her for something, he felt close to her, like his accelerated heartbeat was a racing countdown to him having her all to himself again.

He loved watching her sleep and the adorable sleepy reflex she had of searching for him in her slumber. Nothing came close to the fulfillment he felt when she was in his arms, and he vowed never to relinquish her. She was a very active sleeper, Byakuya had realised. Not restless, just active. She had obviously never shared a bed with anyone and was used to having the entire king size bed to herself. Although Byakuya had never commented on it to her, it had taken a few weeks for them to find their sleep rhythm together. She didn't always want to be close to him, but no matter where she ventured on the bed, she would always try to keep some contact, even if all it was was to adorably wrap her small hand around his pinky finger. The fact that he found himself analysing these insignificant things had annoyed him at first, and he had fruitlessly tried to command his mind to be more rational and only contemplate productive things, but he soon abandoned that pursuit.

She was a beauty to behold, but a pain to awaken in the mornings. He had however discovered the most sinfully delicious way of doing it. It wasn't anything sexual, though it had on occasion led to that. It was an incredibly tender act, and he only occasionally indulged himself in it. The first few times she had woken up and caught him doing it, she had protested and tried to hide away, but she had soon given in. It was a surprisingly effective way of waking her up.

The morning sunlight crept through her open bedroom door and danced across her naked skin in the most inviting way, and he knew he could not resist his indulgence this morning. The gold luster of her skin alluded to the honeycomb taste of it. She was the sensual embodiment of the most delicious tea – an exquisitely golden, lavender-honeycomb tea with a hint of strawberry. This thought alone often made him want to consume her, but he would appease himself by reverently kissing every inch of her naked skin. She slept quite soundly, even while he was worshiping her beauty, but he always knew when she was near waking, and it would often happen around the same time – once he had worked his way up to her torso.

He watched her taut abdomen slightly jerk from the gentle feather soft kisses he was placing on it, like each kiss imparted a jolt of electricity to rouse her sleeping body. He worshiped at her belly button and smiled at her silent surrender as he watched her grab his vacated pillow and attempt to smother herself with it, but she made no move to deter his continued pilgrimage.

Each kiss was an attempt to treasure, each heartbeat was a promise to love, and every breath, a vow to protect. She was his everything, and now, she was completely awake.

They had been going out for a month. One blissful, joy-filled month. Byakuya had kept his promise, and tried his hardest not to thoughtlessly hurt her. Their every happiness seemed magnified, and at some point, he had even stopped caring about the fact that they were sneaking around. He even began to enjoy keeping the intimate secret, but only so he could threaten her with exposing it. He found that he truly enjoyed having her all to himself, without all the pressure of everyone else having an opinion. The only thing that continued to torment him about the situation was her continuous refusal to marry him. The multitude of different ways he had dreamt up to ask her didn't seem to matter, her answer was always the same – NO. It was a devastating blow to his pride, but he also seemed to enjoy the challenge of it.

Bystanders thought they were constantly fighting due to the fact that they would avoid each other with more frequency now, and when they were in each other's presence, they would ignore the other. Byakuya was constantly amused with the compassionate looks everyone would give Rien due to her apparent torment. He found that Rien was particularly good at hiding her emotions when she wanted to, better than him even – he would never dare look at her when others were around. When he was in love, he knew he did not hide it well. If the few people who knew him ever saw him with her, they would instantly figure it out…so he made sure none of them ever saw. He suppressed a shudder at Yoruichi's self-congratulating, know-it-all expression if she ever saw them together – good thing she rarely visited. He was constantly curbing some affectionate gesture when Rien was near, but she continued to maintain her practiced distance when others were around. But when they were alone…

The time they spent together was never enough for either of them. Rien appreciated Byakuya's attempts to make time to spend with her, but her schedule was unfortunately not as flexible as his. He was in control of what he did and when he did it, but she was at the mercy of many and refused to inconvenience them in case they became suspicious. Rien didn't know what he thought she did all day, perhaps he had thought she sat around all day and pined for him, but she had never done that. Her schedule was actually quite full he realised. First she had aikido and kido training with Ukitake taichou, then lunch with Byakuya or the Shihouin Elders, then politics and history lessons with the Shihouin teachers, then shunko training with Soi Fon, then finally afternoon zanpakuto training with him. She had always seemed so happy and cheerful when she saw him at training that he had never before considered the long day she had endured to get there. Every night when he had completed his work and arrived at her room, she would frequently be reading or finishing an essay about Soul Society history or politics or some other dreary topic. No wonder she had all those mountains of books and slept like the dead, he had realised.

Byakuya did not like the fact that Rien worked so diligently and complied with all the Shihouin Elders requests to be at every boring function in Yoruichi's stead. Yoruichi would never ask this of her, and the Elders should not be taking advantage, he had commented to her, only to have Rien say that she felt she owed them for all they had done for her.

"You were born into a family; you don't know what it's like to have no one in the world. They took care of me when they could have easily ignored the situation. They truly care about me, and I owe them a lot. What's the harm in being bored by an event or letting them indulge me since they miss having a Shihouin princess around. I am not any less apart of their family as Rukia is to yours – would you not expect her to do as I have?"

"I would not have imposed on her and asked," he had evenly replied.

"I'm not asked to do anything I object to," she had insisted.

Yet, Byakuya had regretfully thought, but let the argument fizzle out.

It was now a sore point between them, and Byakuya constantly felt that she kept choosing the Shihouin clan above him because she would not neglect her duties as princess to spend time with him, and she would also not openly admit to them that she was in a relationship with him. He felt like he was the one being hidden away because he was inconvenient. His time was also in short supply, but he at least made an effort to see her outside of training. Not that there was much training going on these days.

Rien had regretfully revealed to Byakuya that her hands had been becoming more and more burnt everytime she used the katana during training, like she was allergic to it or something.

"Your zanpakuto is tired of you using a mindless weapon to defend yourself," he had explained to her. "Zanpakuto's tend to be jealous in this regard. It wants you to call it out when you are attacked," he informed her

"Believe me, if I could, I would," she had sighed.

"Perhaps you should meditate and learn its name then," he accused, knowing how much she loathed the activity and how little effort she had been putting into it.

"Yes, Kuchiki taichou," she teased in return, and noticed his left eye twitch in response – he obviously hated her calling him that.

When it came to training recently, he was too strict, like he was running out of time, and while she was glad that he was finally taking the activity seriously, she wished he would relax a little. He was relentless, and she called his strict mode of addressing her during training and when others were around, as his Kuchiki taichou mode, but she would always try to get some time with Byakuya before training at the beach was over. Rien was too happy to care about calling out her zanpakuto at the moment, but it seemed as though her and Byakuya had switched places in this particular disagreement. Now, Byakuya was excessively insistent that she learn her zanpakuto's name, and Rien exasperatedly wished he could find some calm medium before she died of exhaustion.

Byakuya knew that if he left her alone to meditate, that nothing would be accomplished, so he often found himself loitering at the Kuchiki Beach cabin, unsuccessfully trying to finish paperwork while she meditated, and he sometimes directed her thoughts. Sessions of meditation would often turn into meditations of a different sort. They were at least making use of the long vacated cabin this time, but this didn't stop Rien from sometimes challenging him to a game of tag and running naked into the ocean so he would have no choice but to follow. He found it difficult to understand – he had never before been like this. It felt like his every emotion was beneath the surface, waiting for her to call it out. He could not get enough of her – her touch, her smell, her taste. He felt like a lovesick adolescent. He had never understood it before. When he was at the Shinigami Academy, he never understood why all his classmates were obsessed with their girlfriends, why they wasted opportunities to train to be with the girl that they loved. He had thought they were foolish, but wasn't that exactly what he was now doing?

Rien could have been imagining it, but she doubted it. Recently, Rien felt that all the Kuchiki servants were always smiling at her and a lot nicer than they used to be. They would all now greet her with a wide smile and bow respectfully as she passed, whereas they tended to ignore her presence previously. Rien could only think of one thing – they knew! She supposed it was difficult to keep a secret from the people who took care of you, perhaps they had seen too many clues to deny it any longer: Byakuya's never used bed; her messed up, well used sheets and pillows; perhaps he had forgotten an article of clothing in her room one morning…whatever the reasons, Rien was almost 100% sure they knew, but none of the servants seemed to have told on them, so there was at least one silver lining to this cloud.

"Kuchiki-sama is the happiest I've ever seen him – his mother would be so proud…," an old sincere-looking female servant, named Haruka, had remarked to Rien as she fed the koi in the koi pond. The servant saw Rien's panicked expression and realised what she had just said, and quickly added, "…his work must be fulfilling." She watched Rien take a relieved breath, nod to her in agreement and then hastily walk off. Really, Haruka thought, no one cared what the reason was, all that mattered was that he was finally happy.

"Nii-sama's been acting strange lately, don't you think?" Rukia began as they leisurely patrolled one of the Rukongai districts during her morning patrols. Ukitake taichou was away on a mission, so Rien's morning was left unexpectedly open.

"What do you mean he's been acting strange?" Rien asked, trying to mask her nervousness about the topic. Had Rukia figured it out? Rien had thought she was too occupied with Renji to notice anything else.

"One day I think I caught him humming when I showed up for dinner, but it had stopped so suddenly, so I'm not sure if it was just my imagination. He looked like he was in a good mood, so that would have explained the humming, but then he was meaner to you than usual at dinner, so maybe he was irritable. I don't know…sometimes I wish Nii-sama would come with an instruction manual," Rukia darkly chuckled, eyes mischievously glinting, like she had considered writing one before, and perhaps selling it on the black market to all the women in love with her Nii-sama. How would it begin, Rukia wondered?

XOXO

Kuchiki Byakuya (a.k.a Nii-sama)

Age: 27 (approximately)

Height: 6ft

Appearance: If you're a shinigami desperate enough to buy this, you already know what he looks like. (P.S. Shame on you and your dirty thoughts!)

Titles: Too many to mention. (P.S. You better not be in this for the money either!)

Interests: Calligraphy; Zanpakuto training; Insulting people

Likes: Very little

Dislikes: Almost everything, especially rule breakers.

Enjoys: Spicy food and long walks…on the beach?

Looking for in a girl: Dark hair and pretty eyes.

Chance of success: None. Just give up now. He's not interested!

CAUTION: Beware of everything. It's all a test with him!

XOXO

Rukia chuckled to herself again. Well, the Shinigami Women's Association has been trying to get Nii-sama to pose for a calendar for decades; maybe her biography of him could accompany it. No matter how many they printed, she knew they would all sell out. Even though he was cold, scathing and had a foul disposition most of the time, he always won the Shinigami Women's Association polls as most eligible bachelor, and Rukia didn't think it was because of his shining personality either.

"If he did come with an instruction manual, I'm sure it would clear up a lot of misunderstandings," Rien agreed, and tried to steer the conversation away from the topic before she would have to lie to Rukia as well. She was right though, Byakuya did not hide his happiness as well as her, or perhaps he just didn't care about hiding it. It was of course easier for her to hide in plain sight, since everybody always suspected how helplessly in love with him she was, but his affection for her had to be completely hidden at all times, so she could understand his frustration, and why he would sometimes seek her out when she was busy and corner her in an empty corridor for a hug, and sometimes even a kiss if he was having a particularly difficult day.

Rukia and Rien had been walking for a long time, until the houses became more and more sparse, and the lush country side was all that could be seen. Rukia was completely engrossed in the story she was trying to tell Rien about how Renji was recently trying to help her train her bankai. Rukia had apparently spent a lot of time meditating recently, and trying to weasel the name of her bankai out from her secretive zanpakuto.

"She's so unreasonable…," Rukia had begun saying but suddenly stopped. "Stand behind me, Rien," she commanded, suddenly drawing her zanpakuto.

"How did two such beautiful flowers come to be so unprotected in this open field?" A strange crackling voice asked from above them. Rien looked up to see what looked like an Arrancar, if her history lessons were correct.

"Perhaps they have come to play," a deeper voice said, revealing themselves standing in the middle of the vast field. Until they had revealed themselves, Rien hadn't noticed either of them, but now that she did, she felt how strong they were. They must have been very skilled at stealth, for both Rien and Rukia to not have noticed their pursuit. Rien was not trained for battle and was unsure of what to do but follow Rukia's lead. Rien understood the magnitude of the danger they were currently in, and wanted to help Rukia – she wasn't useless after all.

"The first chance you get run, Rien," Rukia whispered as her small petite frame moved in front of Rien to shield her from any attack. Rien did not like the idea of running like a coward and leaving Rukia alone and at their mercy, but she also didn't want to get in Rukia's way.

"Isn't that sweet, Allehandro, the tiny one wants to protect the delicate one," the crackling voice said above them, his shoulder length blue hair whipping in the wind as he drew his zanpakuto.

"Diego, don't tease them, this is serious and you should treat it that way. Remember why we are here brother," the deep voice of the older looking Arrancar chided his brother from the middle of the field. They were both striking, but looked like thugs at the same time and gave off this overtly masculine vibe, like they would break both her arms if she looked at them funny. Allehandro had this dull, mahogany coloured hair that looked like the complete opposite of his younger brother's bright blue.

"Remember to run and get help, okay?" Rukia whispered, trying to let Rien down easily and not make it sound like Rien would only be in the way if she stayed.

"Gladly," Rien agreed, she didn't want to cause Rukia any unnecessary worry.

"Uh-uh, the delicate one is mine," the blue haired Diego warned Rukia from above as his zanpakuto started to burn with a blue flame.

"Never," Rukia confidently replied.

"How about we make a deal then? You fight my brother Allehandro, one on one, and if you live, then you can fight me, else I'm gonna start having fun with the delicate one now," Diego sportingly offered.

"We should take them both out at once, it would be more efficient," Allehandro argued. His younger brother was always such a slacker. If they both attacked the shinigami at once, they would not be able to defend.

"Worried about your skill, brother? Don't you think you can take the tiny one?" Diego taunted, only to have Allehandro draw his zanpakuto and immediately go into his release. "You have a short fuse, Allehandro. Have fun, the other one is unarmed and has no reiatsu to speak of, snapping her neck will be as easy as blowing her a kiss," he laughed and sat down in the air above them, waiting for his brother to attack.

"Whatever happens, don't help. If you see an opportunity, run, I don't give a damn about what they say," Rukia instructed. Rien nodded to reassure Rukia, but there was no way Rien was going to run and take the chance that both Arrancars would try to attack Rukia at once because of it.

Rukia pointed to the air above and Allehandro nodded. Rukia wanted to get the Arrancar as far away as possible from Rien so she would not accidentally get hurt, and she nervously eyed the blue haired one who was nonchalantly twirling his zanpakuto in his hands a short distance up in the air. Rukia knew better than to believe their bullshit – villains always lied!

"I am Kuchiki Rukia, member of the 13th squad of the Soul Court Guardians, and Shinigami," she confidently stated as she faced her bulky looking opponent. "Prepare to be judged," she threatened as she turned her zanpakuto in an arc and released its true form. The beautiful pure white zanpakuto shone with intensity as the ribbon flared about in the wind. Rien was beaming with pride, she hadn't seen Rukia release Sode no Shirayuki in a while, but she had certainly come a long way.

"The little one's got some spunk," Diego commented to Rien from a short distance away where he had landed on the ground, still carelessly twirling his ignited zanpakuto. Rien took a few steps back so Rukia would not become distracted and race to her side, which was obviously what the Arrancar wanted by offering the deal – he wanted Rukia so distracted with worry that his brother would easily pick her off and then he could have Rien and all the time in the world.

Allehandro's released form looked like the outfit that a matador would normally wear, and he sported a sinister looking whip. Rukia raced forward to begin the fight. Allehandro cracked what looked like a bull whip and released a fireball at the end of snap. Rukia's momentum was already against her and carried her through the attack to slice him across the arm. Rukia appeared on the other side of the Allehandro singed and panting from the heat.

"What a funny little sprite you are," Alllehandro condescendingly stated and licked the trickle of blood falling from his forearms to his fingers. "Too bad that you didn't notice that I let you fall into my trap." He was suddenly above her twirling his whip around like a lasso and sending a column of fire racing down to her.

The Aarancar didn't even have time to process what was happening before he was encased in ice, all he remembered was her whispering the words, "Some no mai, Tsukishiro." First dance, White moon.

Rukia looked away for only a second, expecting to see the blue haired Arrancar worried and wanting revenge, but he was just leaning on his sword as he smiled up at her. The ice shattered, but the Arrancar did not shatter with it. One would think that fighting fire with ice was simple, but because they were opposites, they often cancelled each other out. The Arrancar still stood strong, but was looking more pissed off now with his drenched appearance. His fury pushed out from him, heated up his body, and the water evaporated off of him.

They used anger to fuel their attacks, and anger was a hot, impulsive and unpredictable emotion that could only be relied upon for offense, Rien realised, but it was less than useless if they had to defend. Perhaps they had a chance, she hoped.

"It seems I should not have judged a book by its cover," he said between gritted chattering teeth until he calmed.

"Come, let's play, just like you wanted," Rukia threw his earlier words back at him as she dodged another fire ball. The attack was only to hide the length of the whip being set alight and searing the skin off of Rukia's left wrist as it grabbed a hold.

"Rukia!" Rien cried, and took a step forward.

"Uh-uh…now that wouldn't be fair, two against one," Diego chided.

"Tsugi no mai, Hakuren," Rukia called her Second dance, White Ripple, while securely holding on to the searing whip on purpose so the Arrancar could not dodge the attack. Rukia had seen his intention, and was fast enough to have shunpo'ed away, but she was already one step ahead of the angry Arrancar. The Aarancar barely had time to notice her puncture the sky and the ices particles flow up from them, exponentially built in number, and then race towards him like a chilling wave to encase him in a block of ice. Before another thought could enter the Arrancar's mind about escaping, Rukia placed her zanpakuto against the frozen block of ice encasing the Arrancar and delivered the final blow, "San no mai, Shirafune," she confidently stated, and watched the panicked expression disappear from the lifeless face of the Arrancar as her Third dance, White Sword, pierced his heart and the ice sword emerged out of the other side of the block of ice. The ice shattered and the whip and the body of the Arrancar disintegrated.

"Allehandro…," the younger, blue haired Arrancar inaudibly whispered before racing towards Rukia.

"Rukia, watch out!" Rien shouted once she realised that Diego was no longer waiting near her.

It was too late. He was so much faster than his brother. He slashed Rukia across the back like a coward and stabbed her side as he moved in front of her. "You'll die slowly for this," he threatened as he filled with fury and his reiatsu pushed against Rukia.

"Some no mai, Tsu...," Rukia began to say but he raced straight at her with such speed that he knocked the wind out of her before she realised he had severed the tendon in her right hand and her zanpakuto was falling to the ground. He flipped and kicked her chin, slashing her chest as an afterthought when he completed the move.

It was Rukia who barely had time to notice anything as she fell to the ground. All she remembered was Rien racing up to catch her and then placing her on the ground. She didn't know Rien could solidify reiatsu beneath her feet, but then again, she was very good at shunpo, and it used the same concept. Rukia tried to stand up but found that she couldn't even sit up and was slowly losing feeling in her limbs.

"Bakudo, 39, Enkosen, Arc Shield…, Bakudo, 8, Seki, Repulsion," Rien said as she performed the relevant hand gestures while the Arrancar was racing towards them now. Rien had layered the spells, the Repulsion spell would paralyse and repel the Arrancar if they tried to attack Rukia and the Arc shield would hopefully protect her if Rien couldn't get there in time.

Rukia was trapped under the spells, barely able to move from the weight of the Arc shield, losing lots of blood from her various injuries. The reinforced reiatsu of the arch shield served to absorb damage, and as a result, Rukia felt what she thought might be Rien's reiatsu for the first time as she watched Rien leap up into the air and race towards the Arrancar, trying to lead him away. "Rien…," Rukia cried, trying to lift her hands towards her friend to warn her away, but they would not move anymore. The burning blade of the Arrancar had seared closed the connections to her peripheral nervous system, all except the pain, now all she could do was breathe and watch in helpless agony.

Rien charged at the Arrancar as he barrelled down towards Rukia, and used her shunko to swirl and kick him away. Only to have him correct himself and sonido towards her, she shunpoed away and he laid chase like the obedient angry boy he was, Rien thought. Before he noticed, they were far above Rukia, and she was out of immediate danger. Rien wasn't sure what she was doing, and knew he would soon lose interest in this game of perpetual tag and go after Rukia if she didn't come up with something interesting to distract him. She was faster than him, he would never catch her if she kept going, but he would also lose interest and turn his attentions elsewhere.

He suddenly stopped chasing her. "I'll deal with you later," he bitterly said, turning his back to her and looking around for Rukia since he couldn't sense her reiatsu that was being masked by Rien's imperceptible brand.

Rien quickly shunpo'ed behind him. "Byakurai," she whispered from behind, her right index finger against his right shoulder. The force of the spell ripped through him and released itself with a crack out the front of his body and a little beyond. "Since you're a coward who attacks from behind, I'll make you pay for turning your back on me," she calmly said as he sonido'ed away from her, to finally face the unarmed girl he had discounted earlier.

"Fine, I will kill you and then your little friend. I will take you away from her, like she took my brother from me. I will let her live just long enough to see the life leave your eyes at the end of my blade," he decided, as he flicked his blade in an attacking stance.

Shit.

What was she supposed to do now? Running was no longer an option, she didn't want to take the chance that he'd go after Rukia, but close combat would be dangerous as his zanpakuto transformed into a longsword, doubling his reach. A hollow-like visor appeared over the upper right side of his face and across his right eye. His longsword glowed white hot in his release now, and he looked like he was done chasing her. His sonido was also now faster she realised as he slashed her across her arm when she didn't shunpo away in time.

"You're talented, Rien," he remarked. How did he know her name, and why did he address her so informally. Perhaps he had heard Rukia say it. Should she call him by his name? Is this how battles were fought? Rien felt ill-prepared.

"I was aiming for your heart," he remarked as he stabbed her through her left shoulder and she shunpo'ed off the searing blade. He had stabbed her over a dozen times now, and she had only managed to get in two good hits with her shunko. The close hand to hand combat required for her shunko to be effective placed her in dangerous situations that he easily took advantage of. The extended reach of his longsword type zanpakuto was also troubling to Rien as she would often get slashed at or stabbed on her way in for an attack. This was not like any of her training, this guy moved fast and attacked her in rapid succession – actually trying to kill her. He wasn't stopping after every blow he landed and explaining where she had gone wrong and giving her another chance to hit him.

She had been pierced through, slashed and stabbed close to 50 times by now, but she kept getting up. Every wound the white-hot sword made burnt in agony, but she had long since gotten used to pain, she could handle it. The heat of the sword also cauterised most of the wounds it made which meant she wasn't losing as much blood as one would expect from so many wounds. Rien knew that all she had to do was survive until help came, but perhaps that was the wrong type of attitude to have in a battle, she realised as he caught her from behind. She had the foresight to release Byakurai through her own body and into his, the arc of lightening only narrowly missing his heart as it ripped through Rien's left shoulder and into his chest.

"You'll pay for that, you bitch," he shouted as he sonido'ed away from her. She was extremely decisive, and had completely disregarded her safety to attempt to win the battle. The way she fought was unthinkable – like she didn't care about her own well-being, and whatever it was that he hit her with, she would endure it. He sent a few cero her way and her sluggishness now, meant they all hit her. He was a swordsman, and prided himself on being above using cero attacks on opponents, but this delicate girl just wouldn't give up. If he had known her, he would have known how determined she was, but he didn't.

"Why won't you just die so I can kill that almost dead shinigami? Die, die, die…," he shouted as he angrily released the ceros.

Once the smoke from the ceros cleared like a tornado had whipped them away, he saw her still standing – she was still the same delicate girl, but she looked completely different. All the colour had drained from her hair, leaving it looking like silvery white moonlit strands glistening in the sunlight and blowing in the wind. Her skin had also turned a silvery pale colour, like a human encased in freshly fallen snowflakes that never melted. Even Rien's previously tattered and torn training outfit was now pristinely covered in glistening, silvery-white spirit particles.

"So you've finally decided to be serious, Rien," Diego laughed as he took an attacking stance.

"Sorry, Rien's not here right now, can I take a message?" Her voice was sickeningly sweet and she smiled at him so innocently. "But I don't have anything to write with," she sweetly pouted, "so I guess I'll have to use your blood." Her voice sounded like wind chimes as it played its deadly melody in his ear.

Rukia, who was lying on the ground helplessly watching this, still couldn't believe what she was seeing. Even though Rien looked a little different, all her features were still the same. She undoubtedly still looked like Rien, so Rukia didn't know what to make of it, and she also couldn't hear a word of what they were saying to each other.

"You should have accepted the mercy Rien was showing you, but now that you've threatened something she cares about, I can't forgive you." As dark as the content of her words were, they sounded calmly innocent being said in Rien's ethereal voice.

"Just who the hell do you think you are?" the Arrancar spat back in irritation.

"Eien," she said as she held her arm out at a 45 degree angle and he watched the zanpakuto appear out of thin air in her right hand. It had a pure white straight blade and a silver hilt without a guard or a pommel. How incomplete, Diego thought. The pure white quality of the blade almost shone blue as it reflected most of the sun's rays that fell on it, and had the effect of it looking like the sun's corona itself glowed around the blade like a halo of light.

"At least no one can accuse me of killing an unarmed little girl now," Diego bitterly said, as he continued to surreptitiously scan the ground for Rukia.

The atmosphere became heavy and dark storms clouds gathered all around them. The Arrancar couldn't figure out if she was doing it or not, or if she was about to attack because he still could not sense any reiatsu coming off of her, so he decided that the most prudent course of action was to attack first and put her on the back foot.

He sent a few more blue cero her way because he knew all her wounds had made her sluggish and she would not be able to dodge the attacks in time. Even if she looked slightly different, he knew the same broken, delicate body was beneath the cover of white spirit particles. He was right, she didn't try to dodge the multitude of quickly released ceros. She lifted her free left hand and flicked it aside in front of her, and all the ceros heading towards her diverted their trajectory and narrowly missed her, like a strong wind had pushed them off course.

"Are you ready to be serious now?" Eien taunted. Eien couldn't move, Rien's body would not be able to withstand it, so she needed the Arrancar to come to her. Rien had allowed herself to become far too damaged to be effective, but Eien would do what she could with what Rien had left. In order to make him act foolishly, she probably had to piss him off a little more.

"Rain," she commanded as she tightly gripped the zanpakuto – and it did. At first there were only small sparse drops, but that soon turned into a steady downpour. She put her left hand up in front of her and the raindrops all around them stopped, froze into hardened teardrop shaped projectiles and hung in the air surrounding them. Eien used all of the energy Rien had left and swirled the zanpakuto in the air as she spun and landed in a graceful crouch to flick the blade of the zanpakuto in the direction of the stunned Arrancar.

"Pierce," she commanded, her head bowed over the blade.

The blade almost seemed to sing as it vibrated with intensity, with bloodlust. All the pointed tips of the raindrops directed themselves at the Arrancar, surrounding him before rushing in. There was no escape; there were hundreds of thousands of the deadly bullets all around him, rushing at him in continuous volleys. He had shattered the first few waves of frozen raindrops with the sheer force of his reiatsu, then a few more with the heat of his weapon, then using his ceros, but there were still an undocumented number of the raindrops lusting after him. He took the hit, he had no choice, and staggered to stand up again, only then noticing that his blade was no longer ignited, but was now a pale silver colour. The frozen raindrops pierced through him like bullets of ice, melting inside and sending a cold hypothermic shiver shuddering throughout his body.

"Guess I'm gonna have to kill that fucking shinigami first," Diego venomously threatened. He had had enough of this, he no longer cared what his orders were – he had lost his brother over this, and someone was going to pay for that.

Rien's body wouldn't be able to endure it, but she refused to give up without trying. Rukia meant too much to her. She would not allow him to hurt her. Rien didn't matter, she could take a beating, even if it ended up killing her. She may not have been gifted, she reasoned, but she was at least durable. She shunpo'ed to Diego before he could descend, and a distinct ring was heard as steel met steel. She knew she could fight like this – on autopilot, if she could just hold his interest.

Rukia was barely conscious and trying to stay awake and be useful. She had tried to use her blood to write the spell for Tenteikura, Heavenly Void Net, on the ground so she could send a message of distress to Renji but in her current state, she wasn't sure if it had worked or not, and now Rien looked like she was in for it. Rien looked beyond exhausted as Rukia finally lost her battle and lost consciousness.

Rien wasn't as physically strong as the Arrancar. His longsword pushed down heavily against her pure white blade, pushing it closer and closer to her right shoulder. Rien had taken too much damage, she was spent, too many open wounds bled and ached in agony beneath the surface of the white spirit particles that now clothed her. Diego swung his heavy longsword around his head and down at her in an arc, trying to increase his leverage and momentum, hoping to break through her solid defence and kill her once and for all. He was loathed to admit that he had been impressed by her sword skills far more than the shikais, but he could see that she would never beat him in a physical contest. Rien's zanpakuto was pushed so far back, it was nicking her own shoulder from time to time.

Eien knew there was no other option, even if he took Rien with him, Diego had to die. She shook the zanpakuto in a quick sudden jerk and the blade flowed quickly through the hilt and emerged in deepest black out of the other side of the hilt where the pommel should have been capping off the end of the zanpakuto's hilt. The deep black blade pierced Diego's chest cavity, puncturing his lung and breaking a few ribs on the way in.

Diego sonido'ed off the blade and ripped his longsword through her right shoulder. He had put so much force behind the blade, and when her zanpakuto suddenly disappeared and no longer offered resistance, his sword had so easily cut through her skin and muscle but was unceremoniously stopped by her clavicle. Although her skeletal structure looked unimposing and delicate, it was obviously dense and fortified enough to stop a blade. Diego couldn't believe his misfortune as his own blood began filling his lungs, drowning him from the inside.

He had been warned not to take her lightly, and to collect all the information he could on her, and to collect her if possible, but this was too much – he wouldn't survive it if he stayed, and then the whole trip would have been for nothing. His brother would have died for nothing. All the shinigami were going to soon pay, Diego darkly vowed.

Diego watched Rien with her black bladed zanpakuto stumble towards him as the white spirit particles covering her outfit slowly fell away to the wind.

"Why won't you just die?" Diego asked as he coughed up some blood.

"Death…," she scoffed, "dying is easy" she said as she stumbled forward and fell again, trying to move within zanpakuto range of him. "I chose to live," Rien flatly stated as she stood up again. Her determination to keep going unnerved Diego.

He quickly opened a Garganta. Regrouping was his best option – he was barely alive, and was in no condition to fight someone, and certainly not the demon in front of him, trying to claw itself closer to him so it could finish the job.

"I promise that you and that fucking shinigami will pay for this," he threatened as he stepped into the Garganta and quickly closed it before she could jump in.

Rien fell into the open air as she uncoordinatedly lurched forward to try to hold the Arrancar in place, but it was too much – she couldn't accomplish her goal and kill him, and now it was too late as her eyes closed and she fell through the sky and towards the ground.

Gravity.

Gravity really did exist, she thought with a smile as she fell through the air.

Byakuya.

She remembered every detail of his loving face and the unparalleled beauty of his smile. She would not let go. She held onto the memory. She would have given anything to feel the security of his arms at that moment, she thought as she fell unconscious and the ground rushed up to catch her.

Author's Note

I didn't know if I should put that Shinigami Women's Association Profile in, so I took it out last week, but when I read it again this week I chuckled and thought why not add that bit of levity in. I had originally thought it disrupted the flow of the chapter too much, but you can just think of it as an aside, else it would have just gone to waste and never have been seen.

It was an undoubtedly important chapter, so you can see why I allowed myself an extra week to agonise over it. When I was originally thinking up names for Rien, I really liked Eien because it was appropriate, but saying that name in Japanese is [E – i – en] which didn't have the flow I wanted, so I changed it slightly to [Ri – en] which I think sounds better for the character, and I like names that begin with R. But I kept the zanpakuto's name as Eien because it was appropriate for a Slayer because it means eternal in Japanese. That's all the info I'm giving on the zanpakuto for now.

I'm really glad reviewers loved the Zaraki and Yachiru scenes in the last instalment. Yachiru's little crush is cute and I love how Zaraki keeps trying to pick a fight with Bya. You really can't hide anything from the servants! I like the legend of Zorro, so that's where the names Allehandro (spelt as it is pronounced instead of the Spanish way)and Diego came from, but they are obviously in no way based on those characters. Besides the action-packed ending, I hope people enjoyed the sweet beginning as well, sometimes I like to think I sneak in the tenderness between them while they're doing other things, but his affection for her was blatantly obvious this time – so I hope no one groaned and rolled their eyes. I really was trying not to make it too sappy.

I was so nervous as I finished this author's note. I hope you guys liked it. Feedback and encouragement is as always, appreciated, so REVIEW. Thanks.

~Willow~