The Iced Moon Arc Bleach

by tending

Lieutenant Kuchiki has a secret. A variety of secrets that the Gotei 13 do not know until a figure of her past and present tips them off and then a story is told, a past. A past connected to the very creation of the Soul Society from the Soul King to zanpakutos. Soul reapers are not the utmost rulers after all.

17. It Can't Be, Can It?

Pre-Note

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. This is solely for creative purposes. I do own this plot.

There are Images for this Chapter.

---

It Can't Be, Can it?

"Are you saying you can absorb the Soul King's spirit 'cause I can guarantee you that it isn't exactly possible in your case. It doesn't matter how much power you obtain to absorb it, the Soul King's spirit will reject the body it can't survive in." Kisuke said. "At the end of the day, Kuchiki-san can only do so much for you."

"You pride yourself with your intelligence, Urahara Kisuke, your research on the numerous creations within and outside the Soul Society has led you into thinking you know it all." Jushirmai said. "That thing is controlled by something else...something I have direct control of or rather, once did. Though, I can guarantee that it will still respond to me when I am ready to take it."

"As a scientist, I'm all ears to know what that is." Kisuke responded.

"And ruin the fun of you figuring it out on your own?" He asked before grinning. "Ask Rukia. She'll tell you all you need to know about the Soul King and more."

Rukia appeared on the ground with Roger wrapped around her shoulders just then. Her arms were crossed and the evident annoyance in her eyes incited so much pleasure in him.

It was interesting how well she could act. If he didn't know her as well as he did, he would've believed her up until now. For her to hide such a past so cleanly and allow herself and others to be fooled was terrifying in the best way. He had to remind himself to stay patient and let the Gotei 13 discover on their own who exactly she was.

The Rukongai wasn't her only home.

He smiled, "Rukia, when I leave I'd like you to make me a promise."

She raised her left brow in disbelief.

"When I leave, I'd like you to inform Urahara Kisuke in private why exactly I have a hold on the Soul King's spirit and I'll grant you a favor." He said, eyes locked with hers. "The favor is Shihōin Yoruichi's body returned without further harm. Do we have a deal?"

Rukia just blinked, a bit stunned at what he had asked of her.

It couldn't be that simple. Him wanting her to explain to Urahara how exactly he shares a connection with the Soul King was ridiculous. If anything, he could just explain it right there for her, why was there a need to have her explain it in the first place?

"...Ya know for a guy who's supposed to be I don't know, the fucking 'villain' in all of this, you sure got some nice deals." Raiden said.

"Consider it a favor, Arigawa—for Rukia, after all," He smirked, making sure that he didn't break contact with her before he said the next few words. "She is family."

Rukia said nothing though she maintained contact. Though Uryū, watching from below, took note of the use of the word 'family'.

"Why?" His question was directed at Raiden but he didn't break contact with Rukia. "Should I change the deal?"

"Wha—" He stopped himself. "Did I fucking say that?"

"I'll take that as a yes then." Jushirmai said while moving up his right hand, lifting Yoruichi's body from the bowl he had thrown her in. "I'll change it."

Yoruichi's body was badly bruised, the most evident hit being on her waist. The glimmering lines of ice had sunk into her skin, so much that you could see some parts of her bone. She was semi-conscious.

"Ah, Rukia. How about this? Instead of informing Urahara Kisuke about my connection with the Soul King's spirit, I want something in return."

She slightly raised her left brow again as she waited for him to continue.

"You don't think he's gonna ask her for his birthright info, right?" Ikkaku asked while looking up.

"A possibility however, Arigawa makes a point—he's been very patient." Tōshirō responded, staring at the same place. "Something tells me he can wait for it."

"In that case, we've got nothing to worry about." Captain Kyōraku said while touching his susegasa hat. "For now."

"Would you hurry up and say it?" Raiden asked, agitated by the random acts of silence.

"Rukia," He began to say. "In exchange for Shihoin Yoruichi's body, Sojun's spawn, and the substitute soul reaper's body, I would like you to give me your arm."

"What?" Rukia asked, immediately reacting before Jushirmai raised both of his hands and made a pulling gesture, signaling numerous lines to rise out of nowhere and head to and back from a certain location. The bodies of Ichigo and Byakuya suddenly appeared, wrapped around with numerous hissing lines.

"Is this dark enough for you, Arigawa?" Jushirmai asked, finally breaking contact with Rukia and turning to him. "These bodies mean nothing to you."

"Let them go." Rukia ordered, her voice sounded exhausted because she was.

"I need your arm, Rukia. Your left arm." He ordered.

"I was just saying you were being too nice, the fuck?" Raiden asked with his two arms up.

"What does he want her to do? Cut it?" Ichigo asked, suddenly confused.

"Doesn't look like the guy meant it figuratively, Ichigo." Captain Hirako responded. "For all we know, he could be a creep. Must got some fetish or somethin' who knows."

"My arm?" Rukia asked, eyeing her left shoulder before looking back at him. "What would you even want with my arm?"

She tried to find the answer while looking into his eyes however, she found nothing, just desire.

"That's for me to know and you to give, Rukia. You did not accept my first deal, so I gave you another. Certainly, they mean much more to you than a body part. Unless, I fortunately assumed wrong." He said. "In that case, I can dispose of their bodies now. They are already injured from earlier."

"No." She responded.

"It's your arm in exchange for them, quick, Rukia—cut it off." He ordered before a line of ice threw a katana towards her—one she caught instantly—and held.

He was more than capable of destroying their physical bodies by himself. There was nothing that could internally defend them from it and there was nothing Kisuke or Raiden could do against it. Unlike before, Raiden's technique worked against the ice because they were moving without their host. In that case, they were weaker and lacked Jushirmai's sheatsu to amplify their strength. Now, they'd work full strength to kill their bodies.

"You don't think she's gonna cut it off for him, right?" Lieutenant Hisagi asked, disgusted.

"He looks pretty serious about it." Uryū said before looking at Rukia who was on the same ground as them. "And Kuchiki-san doesn't look like she's got anything up her sleeve either."

"I've gotta stop this." Ichigo said, ready to move forward but Captain Ukitake stopped him.

"Let it go, Ichigo-san. Nothing you do will have an effect—it is up to them now." He said.

"Wha—I can't just let her cut off her arm?!" Ichigo looked back in disbelief.

"Well you can't exactly do anything either, Kurosaki." Tōshirō said. "It's up to Kuchiki whether she cuts it off or not."

"Time is ticking, Rukia. I'm only being patient 'cause it involves you." He warned. "Do I have to prove it to you that I will harm them?"

"Would you stop with this shit? I said one fucking thing." Raiden said. "What would you even want with her hand I—"

"Are you going to do it, Rukia-sama?" Roger inquired on her shoulder, she sighed in response.

"Drop the bodies." She ordered.

Cue the dashing smile, she thought in her head as Jushirmai did exactly that. "Gladly."

He dropped the bodies instantly, following her request. Rukia quickly transformed from her normal self to the same petite shinigami form everyone remembered her as. She shrunk in height and her hair was back to its shortcut along with her shinigami uniform and white gloves. The transformation had been quick before she flash-stepped to catch Byakuya's falling body. She held him and flash-stepped to the ground as Kisuke went to grab Yoruichi.

"Hey! The fuck, Rukia! Why do I gotta go after orange head over here?!" Raiden complained as he went to grab Ichigo's body. Joining her on the ground, he tossed Ichigo's body beside Byakuya's before putting his hands on his hips. "Next time, he's your responsibility. Can't believe you got me touching some fucking soul reaper-human-wizard-whatever the fuck he is. I hope I don't get any germs."

"Germs….?" Ichigo asked with his fist clenched.

Rukia didn't pay much attention to what Raiden said after laying Byakuya's body onto the floor. She turned around and looked up at Jushirmai, reaching out her hand to catch the blade he threw at her.

"Go on." Jushirmai coaxed. "Do it."

"I-Ichigo, do you think Nee-san will actually cut it?" Kon asked, worried. "I-I mean, she can't just cut off her arm, right? That's insane, Nee-san wouldn't cut her arm, right?!"

"If she must do it to save a life, she will." Captain Ukitake said.

"This isn't right." Ichigo muttered. He didn't know how everyone was so calm. Rukia was about to cut her hand off for their bodies and everyone looked at it as if it was just a normal thing. He hated feeling like this, not being able to do anything, that is. It reminded him of the time he had spent without his powers, not being able to do anything then had damaged him and now, even with his powers returned, he still couldn't do anything.

Rukia remained eye contact with him before she grabbed the hilt tightly with her right hand and quickly severed her left arm from her body in a blink of an eye. She made no reaction to the cut—even though she started to bleed immensely. Blood gushed out, leaving a pool of growing blood beside her as her arm fell down.

"She did it…." Orihime acknowledged, a bit shocked.

"She had no choice." Captain Ukitake said.

Ichigo stared, a bit stunned, at the fact that she had cut it. He could only see a bit for her arm on the ground but the blood was evident enough to say that she had done it. Kon, on the other hand, had a different reaction. His jaws dropped to the ground and stayed there for a really long time, the plushie was speechless.

Rukia nonchalantly picked up her arm from the ground and threw it up to Jushirmai who caught it immediately. Her eyes looked dead—refusing to give him any emotion he could feed on. Jushirmai watched her as he ripped off the white glove Byakuya had gifted her after her promotion and threw it onto the ground.

"Ah, little Rukia—now let me show you what I will do to your hand." Jushirmai teased before opening his mouth and shoving her hand into his mouth.

"Don't tell me he's gonna…." Captain Hirako couldn't even finish his sentence.

"ICHIGO HE'S GONNA EAT NEE-SAN'S HAND! DO SOMETHING WOULD YOU?!" Kon asked in horror, holding onto Ichigo's collar.

"A soul reaper-like soul craving to eat another soul's body?" Captain Kurotsuchi asked, his tone was a bit too...intrigued. "I didn't think that souls like us could enjoy such a thing unless they were a hybrid of something else."

"Does that mean that Ruki-Ruki won't have an arm anymore, Ken-chan?" Yachiru asked curiously over his shoulder.

"She severed it so that means it's gone, Yachiru." Kenpachi replied.

"She did it for the sake of her brother's, Ichigo's, and Yoruichi's life." Captain Unohana said. "To engage in battle requires some sort of sacrifice. She will be okay."

Rukia, on the other hand, didn't give much of a reaction, wanting him to leave quickly. Though, he wasn't leaving without some type of reaction, that much she knew, so slowly….he began to eat.

Ichigo, Kon, Uryū, Chad, and Orihime's eyes widened in shock. Byakuya's eyes temporarily widened however, it remained unnoticed as he looked up.

Raiden, who was immediately disgusted by the act, was the first to react. He covered his face, not being able to look at the sight, visibly uncomfortable. He was eating it as if it was just a regular piece of meat. Coincidentally, Captain Hirako, who was watching from below, followed his actions and did the same.

Blood drooled out the sides of his mouth as he ate. Rukia watched him with a blank face, even if it did make her insides churn. He was disgusting for a fact but eating her hand was something she hadn't expected him to do. She watched as he spat out the bones of her fingers and continued to eat as if it was something completely appetizing. Truthfully, she wanted to wince, just the image of it made her mourn for her hand. Jushirmai was beyond a regular soul that had been adopted into a noble clan, he had always been something more—a force much darker, a kind born without explanation. It was what made him a mystery to follow, his powers were born with no explanation.

"W-Wha…" Ichigo was speechless as he watched Jushirmai lick the blood on the sides of his mouth before chewing again.

"Didn't know you were that type of soul-eater, Jushirmai." Kisuke commented. Jushirmai didn't respond, licking some parts of her arm before finishing it off completely.

What even are you…? Ichigo asked in his head.

There was nothing normal about what just happened unless he was part hollow or something. There was no way he could be some regular assassin and just so easily eat someone's flesh like that. Although cannibalism was a thing in the human world, it wasn't something you ever saw with your own eyes. Seeing him eat Rukia's hand like that….it wasn't something pleasing to see.

"Are you done now?" Rukia asked. You've done enough.

Jushirmai smirked at Rukia one last time, though he knew it wouldn't be the last time he would bug her while she stayed here underground. He was determined to provide as many obstacles as he could until she changed into her true form. Taking in how she looked once again, it gave him flashbacks to the night he had encountered her after 17 months of being away. He didn't hate it but he didn't love it either—she looked too much like him that way, he didn't wish to be reminded. Slowly, he covered the walls around them with a thin sheet of ice, turning a section of the red-rock dimension into a dark blue.

"Sure." He simply said before flash-stepping away.

Finally.

---

Rukia returned to her normal self shortly after returning to their new camp site.

The Gotei 13's bodies were back on their stretchers, lined up against the left side of the wall, with Jushirmai and the others nursing them.

She sat on the chair, located in between Byakuya's and Ichigo's bodies as she rested. She had abandoned the black dress she had worn earlier and wore a new yet familiar piece of clothing. It still looked like a dress but it wasn't was black, covered with a black cuirass (AN: this is a piece of armor that covers the torso. There's variations of how it looks, I'll describe it in Images For This Chapter) with a noticeable pattern of horizontal lines. Over it, she wore the usual white doctor's coat she wore when visiting Jushirmai though it now partly rested over her left shoulder given the absence of her left hand. In her right hand, which was now gloved with black fingerless gloves that were almost up to her shoulders, she held her Lieutenant's badge which was once wrapped around her left arm before she had severed it. She looked at it a bit before putting it onto the white cabinet beside her.

Jushirmai's words were stuck in her head.

There was a particular part about their interaction that bugged her—the part where he had claimed that he owed his ability to see souls from the moon to her. She found her fingers reaching for the chain around her neck, making her start to wonder…..had he gotten to another gem too?

Could it have really been her who gave him that opportunity? With that thought in mind, she clutched the necklace around her neck tightly.

No...she dismissed in her thoughts. It couldn't have.

"What's she holding?" Ichigo asked, trying to see what she was clutching so tightly.

"Beats me." Captain Hirako said beside him, trying to see for himself. The Gotei 13 had returned to sitting next to their physical bodies whereas Ichigo, Uryū, Captain Hirako, and Captain Kuchiki had stayed beside Rukia. It wasn't that she was doing much of anything however, there was no use in wandering off anyways.

"Ichigo, what are we gonna do about Nee-san's arm?" The plushie asked before jumping off of Ichigo and standing beside Rukia, who couldn't see him. "Even though her brother wrapped it up, how is she supposed to go on without an arm?"

"Kon, she isn't gonna die without it." Uryū assured. "It just means that she'll have to live with using one arm."

"Hey, maybe you could get Kurotsuchi over there to make her a mechanical arm ya know. The ones that look like robots." Captain Hirako suggested to Ichigo and Byakuya.

"We've got those in the human world, idiot." Ichigo said nonchalantly. "You've been there long enough, shouldn't you know this?"

"Geez, well I'm sorry. Just tryna make a suggestion since you're all so sad about it." Captain Hirako said before walking away.

Kon sighed. "Still….it isn't fair that she had to lose her arm over us."

"Relax, Kon." Ichigo said in a lame attempt to cheer him up. "It's Rukia, she'll get better."

"'Get better' at exactly what, Kurosaki? Kuchiki-san is fine, she just lost a body part." Uryū said, unimpressed at Ichigo's attempt.

"I was trying to cheer him up." Ichigo grumbled in his direction. Uryū was about to respond but was cut off by what would be an unfamiliar voice to him if he wasn't stuck in this dimension.

"Nee-san." Jushirmai called from far. The tall doctor with parted bangs in the middle, similar to that of his older sister, long medium length hair with two parts clipped at the back of his hair called.

Rukia looked in his direction before standing up.

"I'm going back to the house to get some supplies, you want anything?" He asked.

Rukia shook her head before responding. "No, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" He asked, tilting his head a bit. "Urahara-san asked me to go get some groceries, Tessai's going to make us something."

"I'm fine." She said again before sighing. "Actually—Wait. I wanna ask Kla something."

---

"Sensei Okasake! Sensei Okasake!" Wildfire yelled while running down the main hall of the 1st Division's barracks. She was about to bust through the large front doors leading to the hall where they typically held their Major and Sensei meetings; however, the assassin guards prevented her from entering.

"Do you have an appointment?" One of them asked.

"No, this is an emergency. I don't need one." Wildfire said while attempting to push them aside to enter.

"You cannot enter the Head Commander's hall unless you have an appointment, Major Ira—you know this."

"We're in a State of Emergency, those rules don't apply." She was determined. She needed to let him know that there was a possibility that woman was still alive.

"The Head Commander made no announcement in regards to the rules. Make an appointment and he will call you." The other one said.

"Okasake Jūshirmai attacking the Seireitei is the equivalent of him attacking us right now. We are in a State of an Emergency now let me in!" She said while struggling against one of the guards. "Sensei Okasake! Sensei! It's me, Wildfire!"

The other assassin took out his dagger. "We have no reason to associate ourselves with soul reapers. Take that back, it's disgusting to think of it as that. They will die before they can even begin to understand how powerful we are."

"If it was urgent, you could've just sent a hell butterfly. It would've reached him faster, he is not in the position to accept meetings as of now." The guard holding her said.

"And why's that? Oh! I know! 'Cause we're in a state of a fucking emergency! This is urgent—he has to know this before we move any further." She said before pulling her right hand out of his grasp. "Sensei Okasake! We need to talk!"

"Let her in." A hoarse, old voice said. It was Sensei Okasake, through the intercom.

The guards moved aside, allowing Wildfire to run in as the automatic doors slid open upon sensing her. The doors immediately closed once she entered the room. Sensei Okasake had his back turned to her, sitting on the other side of the large room, his black haori showcasing the number of his division, a straight line meaning one. He was writing something down, clearly invested into it as he didn't turn.

Wildfire ran down the long, narrow red rug, the same one as the rug in the 1st Division's main hall, until she was within a few metres of him. She tried not to let her emotions get the best of her like she had done with Haru and Shira a bit earlier though her voice was already starting to tremble without even speaking.

He didn't say anything as she stood behind him, holding her own fingers near her lap.

She didn't know where to begin.

"...Sensei?" She called. "Uh….well,"

"How is the situation in the Seireitei?" He asked slowly. She could see him flip pages of something while he spoke.

"The Seireitei? Uh...well, the ice….it isn't going to attack them anymore—I think Jushirmai has pulled out for now. The reapers are all, for the most part, okay and reside in their barracks. We distributed the extra necessities you sent us with so it should last them a good while. Shira is currently managing the divisions and Haru went to the Human World with some of them to monitor the situation over there." Her voice was low and a bit shaky.

"Have you met Genryūsai?" He questioned.

"Yes, we did. Um, he surprisingly seems to have something to do with the Gotei 13's disappearance." Say it, she urged herself. Let him know that you found them...alive.

"I see. Is that all?" She said nothing in response, only gulped.

A few seconds of silence went by. "Uh, actually—yes. I….."

He waited for her to get her act together. Her heart was beating so fast, she didn't know how she could word it to make it sound better — not that there was anything good which could help.

"R-Renji and…..R-Rukia are alive, Sensei." She couldn't stop her voice from shaking so she just let it be. It was too late now. "I….I know it doesn't make sense but they are—I'm sure of it. I—in the Research and Development Department—I searched up both of their names. The Lieutenant Kuchiki that Jushirmai went to meet is Rukia. I'm sure...almost positive—I just need a picture. And Renji, I'm sure of it. He's the Lieutenant of the 6th Division now, officially. I saw his profile and his picture. He's been the Lieutenant for a really long time. He's a soul reaper now and so is she. She isn't dead, she isn't missing, she left….purposely."

Wildfire's heartbeat became faster the longer Sensei Okasake didn't say anything. She didn't know what to do with herself anymore. From the shakiness of her voice to the water that kept clouding her eyes, she had lost control.

"I see." He said after a few more seconds of remaining silent.

Wildfire was at loss of words. "I-I see? Sensei, aren't you hearing this? They...They left—Renji became a soul reaper, Ru...I can't even say it, she isn't gone, dead, missing, whatever you wanna call it. She's alive….alive." She said while walking closer to him.

"Control your emotions." He warned. "They will get the better of you."

Her eyes widened in disbelief. "What is going on with you people? Haru, Shira, and now you! Am I the only one who cares about this? Am I the only one who cares that Renji deceived us and joined them? Didn't bother to let us know whether he was alive or okay? Or what the hell he was doing? He left us like he hadn't known us for years, like we were just random people who surrounded him and filled up space? And her? I...I don't even know what to say right now. I...I really don't. Except the fact that I came here to tell you that she's alive and y-you...you can't tell me you don't care?"

He didn't respond.

"Sensei!" She called again before coming closer. She stared at the back of him waiting for him to respond however, he said nothing. And then it clicked—just like her brain had puzzled the pieces when facing Genryūsai, it happened again. Except this time, she wasn't happy with what her brain had figured out.

She stepped back, "you knew...didn't you?"

Tears welled up in her eyes but she didn't let them fall. She clenched her fist to hold it in. The reactions of Haru and Shira made sense to her but the reaction he had given was one he would've never given unless he knew all along.

"Oh….my...I can't...believe you knew. This whole time! Y-You knew? For the past 50 years or so? You knew that they were there and you didn't bother to tell anyone else? You just...kept it a secret and had me begging you to reopen that investigation over and over again until we at least found a body, made a whole shrine dedicated to her and had us bringing you and her flowers, thinking of her as if she was dead. Why did you let her run?!"

She held her head, feeling a sharp pain. This wasn't making any sense to her. "How could you let her run?! What reason would you have had to let her go?!"

Sensei Okasake didn't respond, allowing her to continue. "You allowed her to leave—you allowed Jushirmai to become even more strong by doing so! He disappeared the moment she did and now look...look at what you've both done. Why would you let her run?!"

"Ira!" A voice called behind her, it belonged to Major Haru. He grabbed her from behind before bowing to Sensei Okasake.

"I apologize, Head Commander—she's dealing with a lot right now I—"

"Let me go!" She yelled while shaking Haru's hands off.

"Ira—"

"No, Haru. He knew she was alive, he might've even purposely let her run! Don't you think we deserve an answer to this? There is no reason why he would've let her go even if she wanted? She's—" He cut her off.

"Head Commander must've had a reason, Ira. You know, that he would never do something like that without reason. Your emotions are getting the better of you again. I told you to control yourself or you'll be taken off this case." Haru tried to reason with her. "Apologize, you're being rude."

"Rude? I'm being rude? We're high-ranking officers of this force, Haru if she ran and purposely went into hiding we deserved to know. We especially deserved to know." Wildfire argued, her body now facing Haru.

"We are not entitled to this type of information. Know your place, if the Head Commander hid it from us there must have been a reason. Control yourself, Ira. This isn't the time to be emotionally unstable, we are in—"

"A State of Emergency? Yeah, I'm well aware of that but do you know why we're in this State of fucking Emergency? Do you know why? 'Cause she ran away, she left—it's her fault. She disappeared and he went and got fucking stronger. Who even knows what he's capable of now?" She was enraged. Sensei Okasake wasn't saying anything and Haru who was supposed to be her friend and partner wasn't helping either.

"It isn't her fault that he has an obsession." Haru defended. "If she's alive and if Head Commander kept this from us then there must have been a reason. Apologize and let's go."

"I'm not coming with you, Haru. I need to figure this out, 'cause obviously I'm the only person who's being lied too here." Wildfire said before glancing at Sensei Okasake's back one last time. Even if she didn't want to, her loyalty to her superior ran deep and urged her to bow. She did it once and barely completed it before ushering out of the room. Haru followed her out of the room and into the hall. He attempted to touch her arm once more but she didn't let him.

Her voice was low. "I'm not coming back. You and Shira can deal with whatever is going on over there, I'm going to find Raiden—this is ridiculous."

"Ira—"

"You're just like them you know. It wouldn't kill you to listen to me for once. This is crazy….absolutely crazy...it's even crazier that you're just letting it slide like it's no big deal. I just...don't know anymore okay? If I come back, I'll let you know. I just need space and someone to talk to, okay?"

Haru said nothing, he just watched her go.

---

Raiden's phone vibrated several times in his pocket as he sat down on a log-shaped red rock with Renji. He contemplated whether he should check it in front of him or go to the side and answer it. Something told him it was from Wildfire and the last thing he wanted to do was bring that topic up again.

Though, Renji was a bit distant himself, still looking at his broken zanpakutō in deep thought—something you rarely ever saw Renji in. Eating away the last of his rice ball, Raiden cautiously watched Renji as he slowly slipped out his phone to see a list of messages and missed calls, all from Wildfire.

WILDY

you dumb fuck where r u?

WILDY

answer ur phone! we need to talk

WILDY

can we meet up?

WILDY

raiden

WILDY

answer. the. phone.

WILDY

where r u anyways?

WILDY

i stopped by cang du's place n u weren't there

WILDY

hellllooooooooo did u die in the rukongai or somethin where the fuck r u

WILDY

fuck it, u'll see this eventually. we need to talk, meet me ur place n don't bring anyone.

Raiden didn't know how to leave. It's not that anyone was paying much attention to him anyways but he was sure Renji was going to ask. In that case, he didn't know what he'd say he was going to do. Say he's going for a walk? Maybe. After all, there was nothing mildly entertaining about what they were doing. Everyone was taking care of the Gotei 13 and Renji was in some other land of his own, at least, that's what he assumed.

"What are you doing?" Renji asked, taking notice that Raiden was staring at his phone without pressing anything.

He glanced up—"nothing, mind your business."

"I was just asking, asshole." Renji responded while looking at his zanpakutō.

"Didn't need to." Raiden said as he stood up from the log. "I'm gonna go make a call."

"Wha—what the fuck are you doing?" Renji asked, attempting to grab his hand, holding the phone.

"I. Am. Going. To. Make. A. Call. Abarai. Are. You. Fucking. Deaf?" He asked while leaning towards him.

"To who?" Raiden moved away and walked behind him.

"Mind your business, I'm a Capital-based assassin-quincy before I'm anything else. What? Did you think they wouldn't be lookin' for me?" Raiden asked with his back turned to Renji.

Renji didn't say anything for a while before shooing him away with his left hand. "Yeah, yeah whatever. Go make your call."

Raiden walked away and entered a smaller interconnected cave that was far away from Renji and the rest before dialing Wildfire.

"Arigawa, where are you? I've been trying to—"

"I know, I know. Sorry, my phone was off. Are you good?" He inquired, speaking relatively low just in case.

"No…..I need you to come back. No one's listening to me here, I need to get this off my chest."

"What the fuck happened over there?"

"Nothing, the Capital is safe—the most we have is just ice but it isn't attacking us or anything. The Seireitei is being handled by Haru and Shira and Division leaders are preparing their forces for battle."

"Wait, weren't you sent with Major Haru and Major Shira there? The fuck, what happened?"

"I'll tell you when you come back. I'm in your room—come."

Raiden took a deep breath before asking, the image of Rukia and Renji suddenly coming to mind. "Did you...by any chance find out anything?"

"I'll tell you when you come. I really can't speak about this over the phone."

Raiden didn't respond for a few seconds, glancing at the back of Renji and the others before making his decision.

He held his phone closely to his right ear. "On my way."

---

Rukia tapped her right foot impatiently as the teenage-looking soul jumped from the top of the stairs to the bottom to the fireplace area and back up again. She could see her, she was just purposely avoiding her.

"Kla!" Rukia called again, this time their eyes making direct eye contact with each other however, she shrugged it off. Rukia clenched her fist and finally, after the 10th round of her jumping, she pulled the headphones off and called her name again. "Kla! This is important."

The green-eyed girl looked to her. "What?"

Rukia took a deep breath. "Kla, we're in the middle of an emergency."

"So? I would've been there with you if you hadn't brought the Kuchiki family along. What is this Kuchiki family reunion nonsense huh?" She questioned, arms crossed. "At least let me enjoy my tunes while you're out there babysitting."

Rukia rested her right hand on her forehead. "That...That isn't the point right now, I need you to tell me something—you're connected to Jushirmai. If you try hard enough maybe you'll be able to—" Kla stormed off into the kitchen, not bothering to hear the rest.

"Kla!" Rukia called, going after her.

"I don't wanna hear it." Kla said as she opened the fridge. "I told you, I can't just summon thoughts like that—not that I would want too."

"Can you please try? I really need you to help me here." Rukia said while standing next to the table.

"Why?" Kla questioned before chugging down some orange juice. "Even if we were once connected, that doesn't mean I can just summon those thoughts, okay? I've tried before and it doesn't work, it hurts."

"But you feel sensations, don't you?" Rukia asked. "I know you do, you don't have to hide it."

"What exactly are you after, Rukia?" Kla questioned, throwing the empty carton into the trash. "You act like we're not on the same level here. You're more closer to him than me, can't you figure it out?"

"Not mentally, but you are. You're still….a part of him in that sense. He's your origin—some parts of him are y—Kla!" Rukia called after she stormed off again, this time with a sandwich in her right hand. She went back to the fireplace area where Hisana's shrine was.

"I told you, I'm not him! I don't care if that's where I came from, I'm not him and I'm not going to try to connect myself back to him, forget it!" She said.

Her voice was soft. "I need your help, Kla. This is important. I think...I may have indirectly helped him gain something without knowing."

She stopped in her tracks. "What do you mean?"

"On the night, I first met Jushirmai after those 17 months, he seemed to have gained some power from the moon." Rukia started to say as Kla turned around. "Now, it didn't really click in at the time since I was almost positive there was no way that he could ever obtain that power however, after talking with him, it has me worried that I may have done something to give him that power. The ability I speak of is the ability to read off dead souls that are still attached to one's heart. He claimed that the moon helped him obtain that power and the moon….well the moon is…"

Her voice faded as Kla came up to her, eyes expressing fear. "You...don't think he could possibly have taken…"

Rukia nodded her head. "It's a possibility. There's no way he would be able to do that with Sensei Okasake's gem alone. He did forge the other gems to give to his entourage however, there's no way he would've been able to forge—"

"The moonstone." Kla finished for her. The seventh and last gem of the Seavens—the one that has remained unknown to others for centuries (AN: The Gems of the Seavens).

"He hasn't, to my knowledge, attacked the Capital or is still attacking soul reapers though, his ice has taken over the Soul Society and frankly, I don't see it going away if it's being powered by two gemstones."

"What about the other Sensei Okasake's gem? Uh—what was it—citrine, the fire one. Can't he use his zanpakutō to melt it?" Kla inquired.

"Sensei Okasake won't use it, he doesn't even have it. He disregarded it—in Hell—a long time ago, he hasn't been the keeper of the gem ever since." Rukia informed.

"You mean it's just floating around there?!" She asked in shock.

"No, no he still protects the gem, Kla. It's just surrounded by a barrier." Rukia said, calming her down.

"Can't he just get it back then and melt the ice? I mean, the current Sensei Okasake is the strongest out of the two, right? With his sheatsu combined with his gemstone, that'd be more than enough to counter it. At the end of the day, the aquamarine gem belonged to the former Sensei, right?" Kla asked.

Rukia shook her head. "No, it's not that simple. Our current Sensei Okasake may have the stronger sheatsu however, the other Sensei Okasake had the stronger gem. It wasn't a power imbalance that caused the gem strength to be outweighed, it was the moonstone that did that. Just like aquamarine represents ice, the moonstone also represents ice. Even though they're two different gems, the dominating element among the seven is ice. Not to mention, the gem reflects the power of its keeper—in this case, its keeper is now Okasake Jushirmai who has become more than powerful for it to release its full power."

"Is that what you wanted to know?" Kla asked. "From Jushirmai's mind I mean."

"Yes, I need to know if he's using the moonstone." Rukia said before putting her right arm on Kla's shoulder. "And I need you to help me find that out. I can't do this on my own."

Kla stared at her in silence before she glanced to her right, suddenly realizing that Rukia had no left arm. Her eyes widened before she held onto Rukia. "W-Wha...What happened to your arm?"

"He asked me to cut it off in exchange for the bodies of the Gotei 13 and I did it. I'm fine, don't worry." She moved Kla's face from her arm to meet her eyes. "My arm is the least of our problems right now, I need to know if that's how he gained that power, alright?"

"B-But Rukia ho…" She paused before glancing at Rukia's absent left arm again. "Won't...Won't it grow back again?"

"I don't know about that right now, just please try to figure out how he did that. When you do, meet me in the underground dimension. We set up camp and I don't think we're moving for awhile, at least until Yoruichi-san wakes up."

She widened her eyes as Rukia slightly turned to leave. "Y-Yoruichi-san is injured too?"

"Yeah, pretty badly. She wasn't able to wound him, he beat her at her own game pretty quickly." Rukia said.

Kla bit her bottom lip before suddenly saluting. "I'll do it, Sister Rukia. I'll do my very, very best."

"Thank you." Rukia said with a smile. "When you return, there will be soup and other food waiting for you so hurry up and join us."

---

The Gotei 13 regrouped after a while of just sitting next to their bodies. There wasn't much they could do if they intended on silently following Rukia and the rest, relying on each other's presence for entertainment was the only thing they could think of. It seemed that the group they were following didn't intend to move until Yoruichi woke up. Tessai having arrived to make food had confirmed that.

With not much to do, they stood as a group, metres away from the line of stretchers.

"I really need some sake." Rangiku said in distress before turning to Mayuri. "Captain Kurotsuchi, are you sure there isn't a way I can tell one of them to pour some sake into my mouth?"

By them, she was referring to Kisuke and the Bounts who were caring for them.

"No, now quit being such a loud mouth." Captain Kurotsuchi said.

"I know the feelin', Lieutenant Matsumoto." Captain Kyōraku said, pulling his hat down with a smirk. He was craving it as well, if only his Lieutenant was here to give it to him—it was a part of his healthy lifestyle.

"I'm just grateful that I carried my medication." Captain Ukitake said, relieved that Rukia had found it in the pocket of his haori and gave it to him.

"It wouldn't have been too nice if you had forgotten it." Captain Kyōraku. "Pretty lucky she realized it."

"I agree." Captain Ukitake said while lowering his head. He was still concerned about Rukia, Captain Kyōraku could tell.

It was clear to him that his Lieutenant was not exactly the person she presented herself to be or rather, she was forced to hide herself for a reason. Although he always knew she had difficulty opening up to others, this was beyond his imagination. If it wasn't for his meds, he would've probably fainted by now. The amount of information he had to intake ever since coming down here had been a lot—he wasn't sure how much more he could take. Not to mention, he couldn't bring himself to look Byakuya in the eyes. He had hidden the fact that Rukia had found her younger brother solely based on her request to keep it a secret. Now that he knew the truth, he wasn't sure how to face him.

"I wonder when Nee-san is going to come back." Kon said with a low voice. "I miss her beautiful face already," he said with sparkling eyes. "and the way her hair looks now makes her even more beautiful than before and the way her eyes sparkle and her features look so enhanced and full. I can't wait to run into her arms and lay on those beautiful soft pillows on her ch—"

Before Kon could say anything else, Ichigo grabbed the plushie and slammed him onto the ground. "Shut up, you perv!"

"ICHIGO!" He yelled from the ground.

Ichigo crouched down and muttered so that the others couldn't hear him. "You realize her brother's standing right behind you, you idiot—stop talking about her like she's some object. Show a little respect."

Kon suddenly began to sweat, sensing a very strong reiatsu presence behind him. He shook as he slowly turned around and looked up to see the Captain with his eyes closed. "U-Uh…?"

Byakuya suddenly opened his eyes and looked down at the plushie.

"ICHIGO!" He yelled before climbing up Ichigo's body. "ICHIGO! ICHIGO! ICHIGO!"

"Be quiet, would you?" Ichigo said. "Damn, you're annoying."

The plushie gasped.

"HOW ABOUT YOU MR…..MR. I'M-GOING-TO-SAVE-THE-WORLD-FIVE-TIMES-WITHOUT-GIVING-ANYONE-ELSE-A-CHANCE HUH?!" Kon yelled while standing on Ichigo's shoulder.

"What?!" Ichigo said.

"Makes a good point." Uryū muttered while pushing up his glasses.

Ichigo turned to Uryū. "Oh, shut up Ishida."

"It's only me, me, me, me, me, me!" Kon argued.

"Oh yeah?" Ichigo asked. "Guess I'm gonna have to save it a sixth time then, though this time it's gonna be easy. It'll be getting rid of you!"

Kon jumped off Ichigo's shoulders as they chased each other in circles. "IF NEE-SAN WAS HERE SHE'D NEVER LET YOU TOUCH ME!"

"YOU'RE RIGHT, SHE'D BE THE FIRST ONE TO KICK YOUR ASS!" Ichigo yelled as they chased each other.

"Glad to see they still have some energy." Captain Ukitake said as he watched the pair.

"Good for them but what's going to happen to us?" Rangiku asked before sighing. "We may have food and our bodies may be well-rested but we've got nothing to do but wait."

"I agree," Lieutenant Hisagi said. "sort of miss when Okasake Jushirmai was here. At least we'd get to see some action."

"It's not their fault, Hisagi—they're the ones taking care of our bodies." Tōshirō said. "Just be patient."

"Wish they fed me more food." Omaeda said while holding his stomach. "I'm still starving."

"You're always starving." Sui-Fēng said in annoyance. "It doesn't matter how much they feed you."

"That's true." Ikkaku muttered.

"How long do you think it'll take until Yoruichi-san gets up?" Uryū asked, not directed at anyone particularly.

"Based on her injuries, it seems like it'll take awhile. It would not have been as bad if she hadn't been hit with that ice." Captain Unohana said. "Though I have faith in Dr. Oswald's medicinal knowledge, it will help her heal quickly."

Tōshirō glanced at Byakuya who was at his far left at the mention of the doctor once again. His eyes were closed. He hadn't spoken much ever since...finding out about it. Without drawing too much attention to himself, he slipped away and went to stand beside him to...talk.

"Strange, huh Kuchiki?" Tōshirō said to Byakuya. "His surname is odd."

Byakuya said nothing, Tōshirō glanced up at him. "Oh, come on—I'm just trying to have a discussion with you"

Nothing.

Tōshirō looked back to the stretchers. "Anyways, he may be a doctor for the human world though, he sure has lots of knowledge about our bodies. He also has a good amount of reiatsu—enough to be a soul reaper. I wonder how the Head Captain allowed this. The fact that Urahara Kisuke snuck people out from the Rukongai into the living world should be punishable by death however, the Head Captain allowed it."

"Give it up, Tōshirō." Ichigo said while approaching them. "He isn't going to talk to you or any of us about it."

He sneered. "It's Captain Hitsugaya."

"As for Kuchiki, I'm just trying to generate a conversation between us. There is nothing to do." Tōshirō said while looking away.

"Whatever." Ichigo said, about to turn around but Tōshirō stopped him by speaking.

"Though, didn't you say you knew about this, Kurosaki?" Ichigo glanced at Tōshirō then Byakuya before looking back at him.

"Well...yeah, I did."

"And?"

"And what?" Ichigo asked.

"Tell us what you know." Tōshirō demanded. "He's not supposed to be in the human world."

Ichigo sighed. "From what I got, her brother isn't just a human doctor, he's also into science—he helps Urahara from time to time and apparently the Head Captain, according to Rukia, maybe that's why he lets him stay."

"Well that would explain why he understands so much about our body types and others. Though, how would he aid the Head Captain? That's what the Research and Development Department is for." Tōshirō said.

"I don't know, though I do know that Rukia said in her memories, he was a pretty intelligent kid who loved figuring things out." Ichigo responded before glancing at Byakuya.

"You didn't meet him nor have you seen her like this before, correct?" Ichigo paused. Yeah, it was true he never saw her like this. Maybe one time he saw her wearing a doctor's coat or something but it was never something like this. He had only ever seen the back of her brother once and that was pretty much it.

"Well, no—I didn't ask. Sure, I was curious but if she wasn't ready, I'm not gonna push." Ichigo shrugged it off.

"I wonder why she didn't tell the Kuchiki clan." Tōshirō said, completely oblivious as to the whole reason why Rukia was adopted into the clan in the first place.

Byakuya opened his eyes, meeting Ichigo's, who was already staring at him. She didn't wanna ruin your last memories with your wife, Byakuya.

That's what he wanted to say but he couldn't say that in front of Tōshirō. He understood Rukia for wanting to keep it a secret. It was sort of sad that his last memory was her telling him to find her baby sister as she remembers it when Rukia wasn't a baby at all. Once he completed her wish, it must've made him feel at ease as she could finally rest in peace but now, he was finding out otherwise. The fact that Hisana also had a younger brother that she didn't end up remembering from the human world made him wonder what the hell happened. How could she have confused Rukia to be a baby if they both died at the same time in the human world and were brought to the Rukongai District together? Guess he'd find out eventually when she was ready.

"Abarai-san!" Kisuke called from his spot. He was sitting next to Yoruichi's body while Renji was further away, across from him, still sitting on the same rock.

"Yeah?" He responded, looking at Kisuke from afar.

"Have you heard anything from Captain Kuchiki?" He hollered at Renji.

"The Captain?" Renji asked. "Nah, last time I saw him, we were down here transferring bodies."

"What the..." Ichigo asked, looking at them both. "What are they talking about now?"

"I know he left to work on a project but he should be back by now." Kisuke said. "We're going to need more willpower."

"It's the Captain, he'll be fine. Ask Rukia when she gets back, he probably spoke to her before leaving."

"But….But Byakuya is right here?" Ichigo asked while pointing to Byakuya behind him.

"And his physical body is there." Tōshirō said, just as confused before a white circle began to form near the stretchers at the far end.

There was a mint green colour which followed it, moving like flames around it. A foot stepped out and then came another. A tall, old man with medium-length silver hair and grey eyes, wearing the standard soul reaper uniform with a white sleeveless haori appeared. He wore fingerless black gloves on both hands and a very familiar family heirloom, a silver scarf wrapped around his neck.

To a majority of the Gotei 13, they could probably take an easy guess as to who it was or what family they belonged too without knowing however, to some Gotei 13 members, this was a face they knew a long time ago. A face that they remembered clearly who had left this world a little over fifty years ago.

"W-Wha…" Ichigo's eyes widened. Although he had never seen any other members of the Kuchiki clan other than Byakuya and Rukia, if that counted, there was something peculiar about the older man who had stepped out. The aura he radiated, the way he looked and dressed. It reminded him of someone. That very someone being right behind him.

Captain Ukitake and Captain Kyōraku stared in shock. They couldn't hide the surprise of seeing someone they knew who had for sure died. Captain Ukitake barely managed to speak, having lost all the correct words, if there were any to say.

He walked out so calmly with his arms crossed, entering the area looking as he did when he was alive.

"G-Ginrei-dono?" He managed to choke out in shock a few seconds later. Jūshiro didn't know how it was possible. The former Captain Kuchiki had passed away a long time ago, seeing him now—looking alive and well—just wasn't processing through his brain right now. It was beyond finding out anything in relation to his Lieutenant, seeing the old Captain still very much alive wasn't digesting well at all. "H-How?"

Jūshiro felt dizzy. He found himself falling back but Captain Kyōraku caught him in time and held onto him. "You alright, Ukitake?"

"H-How….is this possible?" Captain Ukitake questioned, still looking at the Captain. He wasn't sure how to describe it but the sight of Ginrei felt frightening, it felt like he was seeing a ghost...Ginrei had for sure died, there was no way he could've possibly faked his own death nor could Jūshiro find a reason to explain it.

It was only moments after when Jūshiro's mind reminded himself of someone not too far from him who would be feeling a lot worse at this sight. This had been the last immediate blood-related family member Byakuya had left. Jūshiro couldn't even look at him though, he could feel the way his aura changed.

Byakuya couldn't hide his shock. His eyes widened, giving off the most emotion he had ever shown in front of the Gotei 13. They all looked at him before looking back at the man who had stepped out—surprised at the fact he could even make any other expression on his face.

He didn't move.

Ichigo didn't look back to see him but the name Captain Ukitake called out sounded familiar. It was a name that Okasake Jushirmai had mentioned several times but he knew there was another connection elsewhere. He was sure he heard it before in another case (AN: It was Staged). Finally turning around, he looked to Captain Ukitake to ask; however, he saw Byakuya's expression and paused.

Quickly glancing back at the Captain who had appeared and then to Byakuya, the resemblance of the two clicked in.

I-Is that….Is that supposed to be your grandfather? Ichigo wanted to ask however, he decided against it. The man who had stepped out definitely did look a lot like someone who was a noble and there was a keen resemblance in the way he carried himself and looked to Byakuya. However, Ichigo reminded himself that Byakuya's grandfather was supposed to be dead, according to him he had died a little before Rukia adoption so...what the hell was this?

"Kuchiki…." Tōshirō called, immediately recognizing that he was Byakuya's grandfather. He too was in shock—not understanding how someone who was dead was suddenly alive. He momentarily remembered Kusaka however, something told him that this and how Kusaka was revived before were two completely different things.

By the reactions, the rest of the Gotei 13 eventually understood though, they didn't say much. It was not their place to say anything. Nonetheless, they couldn't avoid looking at the stoic Captain who appeared more speechless than ever—having not changed the expression on his face ever since seeing his own grandfather….alive...and standing.

"I am here." Ginrei announced, gaining the attention of Kisuke and Renji.

Renji looked up. "See, what did I tell ya? He'd be back."

"Renji," Ginrei called, turning to him with his arms crossed. "Where's Raiden?"

"He went somewhere over there to make some phone call or something." He responded, pointing to the area where Raiden walked off too—though, he's been gone for half an hour or so. It may have been longer, Renji honestly didn't know. He was too distracted, wanting to return to his inner world to speak to Zabimaru.

"Renji, what the hell is going on?" Ichigo muttered to himself.

Ginrei took notice that Kisuke was sitting beside a body that was thoroughly bandaged. Looking closely, he realized it was Yoruichi.

Kisuke immediately went to explain. "The heir got to her and took the bodies hostage. To distract him, she had no choice but to fight."

"She will recover." Ginrei simply said upon observing it.

Kisuke agreed however, in the meanwhile they couldn't be left alone until she recovered. "I know you have your own project going on but I think it would be best if you stayed with us for a while. There's no guarantee when he'll show up again and we don't really have any competition for him to say the least."

"Project? What project?" Tōshirō questioned. He looked to Byakuya beside him who refused to look at what was going on ahead of him.

"My project has been completed. I came back to ask something of my dear." Ginrei said before analyzing the area. "Where is she?"

"She went back with her brother to get some food so Tessai-san could make us something." Renji said while walking past him to open a cabinet drawer near Ichigo's body. He pulled out a bag of chips from the human world before standing up. "This is all we've got for now."

"I see." Ginrei said before looking at Byakuya's body. He walked closer to the stretcher where his grandson laid on and quietly stared as he spoke. "That thing has chosen to recall its efforts as of now. The Seireitei is safe."

"What about the Capital?" Renji asked as he opened the bag of chips. "Raiden's been talkin' on the phone for hours now. Think he got a few messages about something."

"To my knowledge, the Capital hasn't been attacked yet. The most they are dealing with is the ice however, it has not resulted in any casualties." Ginrei informed Renji before turning to him. "Are you sure Raiden is there?"

"Pretty sure, why?" Renji asked as he threw another chip into his mouth. "Whadaya want, I'll do it for you."

"This is just an assumption however, it seems that Abarai and this Kuchiki have known each other for awhile." Tōshirō observed. They had come to a point where surprises were something they'd have to digest quickly if they were going to silently follow along. They needed to piece everything together to understand and avoiding the subject, no matter how difficult, wasn't the option.

"I need you to return to the Seireitei with me." Ginrei said.

"Never mind, I'll go get him." Renji said while standing up.

Ginrei closed his eyes. "If you are avoiding Major Ira, she has left the Seireitei."

Renji stopped in his tracks. "It isn't about that Captain, there's still Majors there and probably a bunch of assassin hangin' around." Renji said. "It isn't about her, I promise."

"Then you should have no problem with returning." He replied just as a familiar presence entered the area behind him.

"Abarai is speaking too comfortably—it's obvious that they became well-acquainted prior given how he knows that Abarai is avoiding some Major." Tōshirō continued on.

"Yes, it is quite obvious that Lieutenant Abarai has known him for some time. It is unlikely they could've just met recently." Captain Ukitake said. "Though….I don't understand how Ginrei was able to return."

"Can't say I expected this one." Captain Kyōraku said.

"Wait a minute, Lieutenant Kuchiki hid her age from us but Renji didn't? He's the only one who hasn't changed." Rangiku said, now noticing that he still looked the same way he did when he left.

"Maybe he didn't, maybe she was just older than him." Lieutenant Hisagi said.

"Or maybe...that's been his true form all along." Uryū said to himself. He didn't think anyone had heard him but Captain Kyōraku had a good ear.

"Think you make a good point."

"Lieutenant Kuchiki hid her age for a reason, what are the chances it's the same reason Renji did?" Lieutenant Kira questioned.

"He may not have had one." Ichigo muttered to himself, aware that Renji seemed to have some deep loyalty towards Rukia—he'd follow her if she asked however, Rukia would never ask him to follow her. There was something in between.

"If this is a set up—"

Ginrei cut him off. "I am simply asking you to accompany me to do something in the absence of Raiden." He said before turning to his left.

The large doors of the white cabinet opened and out came Jushirmai who was greeted by Tessai. As Tessai and Jushirmai organized the bags and lifted them to the side, Rukia came following behind with only one bag hanging on her right shoulder. Ginrei met her eyes once and nodded his head forward.

Captain Ukitake watched as Rukia came out of the portal and Ginrei's back faced them to look at her. It can't be her. Byakuya-kun can only take so much in a day.

Ichigo felt nervous as well though he didn't say anything. He knew it was going to be her, he just didn't know how she could explain this. Her younger brother was one thing but knowing Byakuya's grandfather was a whole other story. She had a lot of explaining to do, that's for sure.

C'mon Rukia….it can't be you. How the hell am I gonna explain this to Byakuya? Please tell me that 'dear' person isn't fucking you. How the hell do you even know his grandfather? Out of all people, Byakuya's grandfather? What were you thinking? He's gonna kill both our asses.

"My dear." Ginrei called, Ichigo and Captain Ukitake froze—feeling a sense of uneasiness. Kon stayed silent, understanding why they felt the way they did.

Rukia met his eyes with a small smile. "Captain, I didn't expect you to come back so soon."

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, Rukia. Don't smile at his grandfather like that. This isn't fucking good. Stop smiling before Byakuya finds a way to release bankai in here, he isn't happy with this….WHY IS SHE STILL SMILING?

Byakuya stared silently from afar.

---

"Hey," Wildfire reached out to touch his right shoulder before sliding her hand down to his wrist. "Thank you, I'm sorry for dragging you into this."

Raiden stared at her, unsure of what to say. Wildfire knew the truth. She fucking knew the truth about Renji and Rukia. It had been hard to lie in front of her face, acting wasn't necessarily his thing and yet strangely, she didn't suspect him. He figured his nervousness made his reaction seem natural to her however, nothing about his nervousness was attached to Renji and Rukia—it was attached to himself. If Wildfire ever found out that he knew about them being alive prior and didn't tell her, she'd probably never forgive him. Staring at her now, her eyes finally dried and those blush red coloured eyes staring at him with gratitude, he didn't know what he'd do if she ever found out.

"Aye, it's no big deal." Raiden said shrugging it off. "I'm just glad you're alright."

While nodding her head she made a 'hmph' sound as she let go of his wrist. "So," she crossed her arms. "where have you been? Trying to contact you took ten years."

"Huh?" Raiden asked, caught by surprise. "Uh...nowhere. Why?"

"Nowhere? C'mon, admit it. You were out drinking somewhere in the Rukongai, weren't you?" Wildfire said with a smirk. "As expected, though aren't you trying to get promoted soon? Drinking in the middle of a crisis isn't exactly the answer to that ya know."

Raiden tucked the purple strand of hair hanging over her left eye behind her ear. "It is when you know shit's gonna happen soon."

"What happened then? When Jushirmai's ice took over the Rukongai? Doubt he'd spare them." Wildfire said.

"Uh...well, ya know.." He said while playing with the fabric of her assassin uniform. "ice, lines, the usual."

She reached into the pocket of his white trench coat while speaking. "Really? That's the most you got from that? Come on, I saw some of the bodies of the deceased soul reapers. What he did with those lines were pretty brutal. According to those reapers, not only did the ice freeze their bodies but it paralyzed their movements. They also found an unidentified substance, most likely poison, which was injected into the body upon making contact."

"Well that's exactly what happened in the Rukongai." Raiden said, watching her as she pulled out a cigarette and put it into her mouth. "Obviously they've got no power so they died instantly."

He brought his finger to the end of the cigarette and lit it up for her before she spoke. "And?"

"And what?"

"You can't tell me you just saw it happen and continued drinking, Arigawa." She said.

"Obviously fucking not." He sneered. Fuck, he hated lying to her. "I did what I could and left. Wandered around to see what happened with the soul reapers and then checked my phone to see 12,000 messages from you. There, ya happy?"

"Soul reapers, huh?" She put her tongue out to the side of her mouth with a teasing look on her face.

"I wasn't checking up on those reapers so wipe the smile off your face." But the smirk didn't leave her. "And next time you wanna be fucking emotional, you know who to call."

"You…" She said with a smile as she tried to release her hands from his grip. "I told Haru I'd try my best to come back. Now that you've cured my emotions, I should go back."

"Major Haru isn't a difficult guy, Wildfire." His voice sounded enticing. "He won't mind it."

"Mind what?"

"If…" he stepped away from her while holding her right hand. "...we…" Ring, Ring!

Raiden looked down and pulled out his mobile phone from his pocket. Renji.

Wildfire blinked curiously. "Who is it?"

"Nobody." Raiden scoffed, not pleased with Renji being the one to interrupt him. He's done enough damage, Raiden thought.

"'Nobody'." She mocked his tone. "What's with the face?"

He was about to put the phone back into his pocket however, Renji's message stopped him.

RENJ

got no idea where the fuck u are but come back. captain's here n he needs ur help with something.

---

If Byakuya was irrational and still possessed the same attitude he did when he was child, he'd be furiously questioning why and how something like this could possibly occur however, he had abandoned that attitude or rather, grew out of it a long time ago. There would be no answers to his questions if he did not watch them carefully though, he wouldn't admit it out loud, it was hard to look.

He did not like being lied to and being forced into the dark by his own grandfather and Rukia did not sit well with him. More importantly, that term of endearment alone already confirmed one thing that Byakuya had been trying to make sense of in mere seconds as if it was that easy.

His grandfather somehow—he didn't know how or in what world would even be possible—knew Rukia and quite well given the fact that he had substituted her name with an endearing term that he had only ever heard his grandfather call his Aunt. The fact that Rukia seemed to be aware of his existence and so comfortably approached him confirmed that he would not have just met her recently. In such a short time, he didn't think his grandfather would be as open to her, enough to comfortably call her something other than her name, especially given how he had treated Hisana.

With that thought in mind, he wondered when exactly his grandfather had met Rukia and under what circumstance? More importantly, if he knew Rukia around the time Hisana was searching for her, he would not lie and say otherwise. Even though he was not made fully aware of her desire to find her sister, his grandfather wasn't that oblivious. Although Rukia did look different from Hisana when her hair was styled the way it was now, it was still noticeable that their faces had a resemblance to each other in spite of their minor differences. Surely, his grandfather would've noticed that similarity at least? It did not make sense. Regardless of whether he knew of Hisana's wish to find her sister or not, their faces alone would've been enough to form that connection, right?

Byakuya paused his thoughts. That in itself was a whole other issue but sorting that all out would have to come after he found out how something like this would've even been made possible.

He did not like this one bit.

He could not piece together as to how this interaction could happen so naturally, how Rukia, who clearly had numerous things hidden from him, could've known his—or rather, their—grandfather all this time and hadn't said a word. When they were at the manor and she had woken up, while experiencing those memories, she couldn't say a thing or rather, she refused to say anything in relation to them. Given her condition, he had not pushed her to say anything. The planned interrogation at the time clearly frightened her however, looking at her now...he wondered if it was all an act.

From hiding her younger brother to her age to having an unidentified relationship with the assassins to this. To make matters worse, Kurosaki Ichigo who typically knew more and was someone Rukia talked too often had no clue as to what was going on. For the first time in his life, he sincerely questioned who the woman he adopted into his clan truly was. Although he hadn't completely lost faith, the Rukia he was seeing now was not the person he saw in the Shin'Ō Academy. He needed to know who she was.

"Did you finish your project?" He watched Rukia say while approaching him.

"Yes." Ginrei responded before taking notice of her arm.

Rukia's eyes followed his gaze to what would be her left arm. "The thing asked me to cut it off in exchange for some bodies he took hostage of."

Ginrei closed his eyes before reopening them. "I see. Do not overwork your right arm for now. It is all you have to rely on until your other arm grows back."

"Grows...back?" Ikkaku asked, completely lost. "Not like it's a plant or anything."

"That is unless Captain Kurotsuchi over here could do something about it." Captain Kyōraku said, pointing his fingers at the Captain.

"Me?" He responded in annoyance. "Out of all things there are to discover in this world, you want me to figure out how to grow back arms?"

"Well, if the former Captain Kuchiki is talking about 'growing arms' then surely that implies that sort of technology exists, Captain Kurotsuchi." He could feel the irritation in Mayuri without him having to show it. "Then again, mayhaps he was referring to the assassin society. They sure got a lot of skilled scientists over there if they were able to figure that one out."

"I wanted to inform you that my project has been completed."

"Huh?" Rukia asked, surprised. Surely he didn't return just 'cause of that. "What does your project have to do with me?"

"It is not necessarily going to be a comfortable task now that I've finished it and it is...very much real." Ginrei said as Rukia walked past him and stood next to Byakuya's and Ichigo's stretcher.

"What...What is it?" Rukia asked, curiously. She put the bag filled with human world goodies onto the floor near Ichigo's stretcher, her eyes never leaving his.

"I could tell you now however, I've decided to give you the option of being surprised, my dear." His arms were crossed, face neutral as he looked at her.

Rukia….this is fucking ridiculous. Why are you both speaking so comfortably? Byakuya's gonna fucking kill us I—

"Surprised?" Rukia asked. "Well, then again maybe it'd be better if I didn't know what you were up to."

Don't speak like you know him, you idiot. Ichigo was internally panicking. It didn't help that Byakuya was near him, obviously no longer hiding his emotions within his reiatsu.

"You will be aware shortly. The decision is yours." And although Rukia was leaning towards being surprised, she wondered what could possibly be so concerning about this project he had devised.

"Why though?"

"It is a safety precaution. This project will be your test and mine as to how you explain the nature of your past." Ginrei said and Rukia immediately jumped to choose the surprise option. She was starting to hate the word 'past'. Too many negative memories were attached to it.

Don't tell me….he's involved in your past?! Rukia. You. Are. Going. To. Get. Us. Both. Killed.

"Surprise." Rukia immediately said afterwards. "I really don't need to know."

"Are you sure?" He questioned to confirm. Rukia nodded her head almost immediately, not wanting to think about what exactly the Captain had done. By now she was sitting on the chair between the two stretchers, staring up at him as he stood about a metre and a half away from her.

He stared at her for a bit, his way of silent confirmation, before speaking. "You are sure about this? It may result in—"

Rukia rushed to say the first option again, unaware of what was yet to occur following her decision to stay oblivious. "Surprise, surprise, surprise."

Don't be so comfortable, Kuchiki...Captain Ukitake warned. Though he knew it wasn't her fault. She was speaking the way she was because she was allowed too. Though, he wished this interaction would stop for the sake of Byakuya.

"Hmph, you are very determined." He said before turning around to Renji. "Let's go."

Renji wanted a way out of this. He didn't want to risk seeing Wildfire or any of his assassin friends again. Although Raiden didn't reply, he saw the message. Renji expected him to be here soon however, something told him that even if he did return, the Captain now had his eyes set on him to go. "Yeah, Captain? Ya see, I texted Raiden to come back a few minutes ago so he should be on his way now."

"That just means both of you are joining me."

"Whaaaat?" Renji asked. "Not funny, Captain. What do you even need?"

"Ah!" Rukia caught his attention. Ginrei turned around to look at her.

"What is it?" He asked, arms still crossed. Renji reminded himself to thank Rukia later for buying him some more time.

"Byakuya." She said while pointing at him. "I don't think he can eat this kind of food. I haven't really fed him since I doubt he'd want this in his system."

Rukia….this isn't the time for some family reunion nonsense. Calling Byakuya that right now might not be the best option, especially in front of his grandfather when you know his grandfather and Byakuya is behind me right now probably losing his goddamn mind and you're not helping me here at all.

Ginrei glanced at Byakuya, understanding immediately.

He closed his eyes and reopened them as a gesture indicating a silent apology before turning to Renji once again. "Let's go."

"But—"

Ginrei didn't respond, he just waited as Renji gave in and stood up.

Renji walked ahead to the spot where the Captain had appeared from, Ginrei followed.

"It has been awhile." Ginrei commented with his eyes closed.

"Whadaya mean, before you went away, weren't you the one that made me handle your paperwork and the Captain's paperwork at the same time?!" Renji asked, ahead of him. "You've only been gone for 17 months—actually, 15 since you stuck around. Actin' like it's been 10 years or something."

"How long has he been like this?" Captain Ukitake questioned in disbelief. "What reason could he have had to hide himself?"

"Renji's been doing two Captains' work at the same time?" Rangiku asked, too amazed to consider the mood of the moment.

Tōshirō grumbled. "Maybe if you applied yourself the same way you do with shopping and sleeping, you would be able to do that, Matsumoto."

"Count me out." Rangiku said. "Can't imagine having to do both."

"Though what Captain work would he have?" Lieutenant Hisagi questioned. "Unless…"

Captain Ukitake and Captain Kyōraku locked eyes with each other immediately. "Yama-jii knew? Hmph, wouldn't be surprised given how close he was with the former Captain Kuchiki."

"That means that Genryusai-sensei also has some secrets he hid from us as well." Captain Ukitake sounded devastated — he couldn't take much more of this.

"You mean to tell me the Head Captain knew about this?" Ichigo asked, his question directed at Uryū.

"It appears so. Though, did he know of his relationship with Kuchiki-san and Abarai, I wonder."

"There's no way, why'd he order another execution then?" Ichigo asked and by execution, he meant the second one. He didn't even want to start thinking about the first one again.

"I don't know though, I doubt he'd know anything about Kuchiki-san however, he strangely knew about this and by the looks of it, this Captain Kuchiki knows a lot about what's going on with Kuchiki-san so, I wonder if this Captain Kuchiki hid it from him as well. Though, that in itself is hard to believe." Uryū said.

"Someone's lying to someone, here." Lieutenant Kira stated.

"He's right," Ikkaku said before turning to Captain Kyōraku. "What do you know, Captain?"

He was smug with his response. "I can assure you, I knew nothing about this."

"Though someone does." Lieutenant Hisagi said. "There's no way the other Captain Kuchiki was walking around and no one noticed this."

"He makes a good point." Yumichika said.

"It would make sense that we didn't see him if he was using sheatsu." Captain Kyōraku responded.

Byakuya's eyes opened yet again, attention shifting to the 8th Division's Captain.

The Gotei 13 fell silent as Captain Kyōraku continued. "The former Captain Kuchiki has been around for a long time, with his sheatsu, he could've walked around in a world just like this so that he wouldn't get caught. The problem is Yama-jii here."

"I've had enough of this shit." Ikkaku grumbled.

"We really can't trust anybody, can we?" Tōshirō mumbled to himself.

"Ishida-kun…" Orihime called in a whisper. Uryū glanced at her, surprised that she had called him. "If Kuchiki-san staged her interaction with Okasake Jūshirmai (AN: First Encounter and It was Staged), what do you think the chances are the Head Captain did something like that also?"

Uryū stared at her for a while, contemplating. He would've never thought the Head Captain could be involved with anything related to Rukia. While he did hide the assassins, it wasn't something that necessarily connected him to Rukia. Her disappearance made him order another execution, branding her as a traitor, he wouldn't have assumed that he would be on her side however, this did change some things. For a fact, he doubted that this Captain Kuchiki would've known about Rukia's past and did not share it with the Head Captain. Then again, he couldn't really make any assumptions about their relationship though Orihime made a good point.

"It's a possibility, Inoue-san." Uryū responded. "Though, we don't know enough to make that type of statement just yet."

Unohana Retsu, who was behind the two, remained quiet, not wanting to say anything as she watched everyone react to the news. She had known along with Kurotsuchi Mayuri that Kuchiki Ginrei had returned to this world, although she had promised not to say anything. It was not her secret to tell.

She still remembered when he had appeared on the grounds of Sōkyoku Hill when his grandson was being healed for his injuries and a smaller Rukia was by his side, holding his hand. Since then, he had appeared many times after however, he did not share his return with anyone but his adoptive granddaughter, Lieutenant Abarai, the Head Captain and his Lieutenant, herself and the very man who had made it all possible, Captain Kurotsuchi.

She had dirt on her hands as well. She knew she was keeping secrets and so was Captain Sui-Fēng, who admirably could lie as well as she fought however, she'd leave the story-telling to Kuchiki Rukia. The lying did have a lot to do with her in the first place. Captain Kuchiki was only the beginning.

Ginrei and Renji remained engaged in a conversation as they approached the portal.

"You mean you were supposed to come back earlier?" Renji asked. "Then what the hell took you so long?"

"I would have returned sooner if the Captain of the Research and Development Department had not forgotten what I asked." Ginrei said and with that, he disappeared into the portal with Renji, leaving the Gotei 13 to look to the scientist standing behind Captain Unohana.

---

Flashback

Rukia looked up at the sunny sky in front of the Kurosaki home, waiting for Ichigo to come out behind her to head to Karakura's high school. She hadn't expected it to be so nice today, it certainly did not fit the mood or rather, her mood precisely. If she had it her way it would rain all day.

Clutching onto her handbag tightly, she closed her eyes at the sound of Ichigo's footsteps behind her. Just yesterday she had him laying on her lap after he defeated the Grand Fisher, the hollow that had killed his mother. It had rained a lot that night before it stopped. She wondered if that could happen again—the weather she meant—from sunny skies to a storm. The sun wasn't helping her at all today.

"Let's go." She heard him say, she said nothing and followed. There was too much on her mind today. The shinigami who visited her spoke the truth, she couldn't hide it forever. Eventually, they would come looking for her however, Rukia couldn't bother with the thought of getting caught today. Today...was a very important day. Although it was not the exact date, with the shinigami coming to find her soon, she figured that she would do this earlier than never.

Ichigo looked back at Rukia who appeared to be in deep thought. He wondered what she was thinking about, it was unlike her to be this silent on their way to school. Although he'd only known her for a few days, it was obvious that she was acting a bit different. Something was bothering her, he just didn't know what.

"Uh—" He wasn't sure what he was going to say. The moment she looked up, waiting for him to continue he regretted it. "...about...yesterday.."

"Yesterday?" Rukia asked, a bit confused. "What about it?"

Ichigo wasn't sure what he was talking about either. He just didn't like the silence. "I'm…"

"Well, hurry up and say it."

Ichigo grumbled at her. "Would you relax? I'm getting there."

"You're taking too long, what's this about? Your mother's anniversary?" Rukia questioned, she wasn't in the right mood today though she did her best to not come off harsh.

"Keh, never mind." Ichigo said.

"What is it?" She asked again. This time he didn't respond for a while, though she waited until he was ready. Her eyes bore into the side of his face though he didn't look at her.

"Forget it." He muttered as he swung his bag over his shoulder.

She didn't ask about it again.

###

Lunch was about to start. Rukia had been distant ever since morning. During class she remained distracted, even when some of her peers tried to talk to her, it was deja vu all over again—it reminded her how she had been while attending the Shin'Ō Academy.

Ichigo didn't try to speak to her again though he was curious. There was something really off about her today, she didn't seem too interested in what anyone was saying to her. Even the loud and invasive Keigo couldn't manage to get something out of her today. He wondered what was going on. Did it have to do with another hollow or something? She was like a broken record when it came to those things.

The lunch bell rang and everyone got up from their seats. Rukia was the first to leave, in spite of being seated near the windows of the room, she sped out quickly before he even had a chance to say anything.

"What the hell?" Ichigo muttered to himself, now standing up from his seat and staring at the door.

"Something wrong, Ichigo?" Keigo asked. Ichigo glanced at him in surprise, he hadn't noticed that Keigo and Mizuiro were waiting on him to leave. No, he tried to respond but the word never left his mouth. Instead he looked back at the door where Rukia had run out, wondering where she could have gone in such a hurry.

###

Orihime, Tatsuki, and their friends had offered Rukia to join them; however, she had refused. While they all sat on the grass, eating their lunch, Rukia was sitting, back braced onto a tree. The handbag by her side was practically empty, two notebooks, one pen, and her lunch...an orange.

She had separated herself from the others, making sure that she was away from anyone that would approach her as she looked down at the orange in her hand. She pressed her lips together, fondly playing with it in her hands while bringing her knees to her chest. The sun was still out, it was ruining the day—she wanted it to rain. At least then, no one would be out and she could sit without being cautious of others.

She continued to play with the orange in her hand, fond memories slowly beginning to replay in her mind. She attempted to smile but it was bittersweet. The pain of loss, she thought to herself. Her chest was starting to hurt the further she divulged into her memories, it was at that point where she had completely forgotten her surroundings—it was just her and the orange in her hand. Even the sun faded from existence as she remembered.

Slowly, she closed her eyes and she remembered her surroundings that day. The clouds were so dark and grey, the rain fell immensely and it was just them too...standing far apart on that hill. There were already tears clouding her vision at the time but the rain made it worse. She bit her bottom lip, trying to stop herself from crying. She was in too much pain, her chest hurt so much she couldn't bring herself to talk. Standing from a distance, she remembered seeing him and just like that, she was at loss of words.

Rukia tried so hard at the time to muster up the courage to yell and release her thoughts however, she struggled to the point where all she could do was clench her fist. With that memory gone, she thought of another day—in which, she was in the same position she was now, sitting against a tree except, she had two sticks in her hand and Yoruichi stood in front of her.

At the time, she hadn't cared to pay attention. Her eyes just focused on the branches in her hand as she continued to stroke one over the other as if she was sharpening knives. That day had been unforgettable. She was at the Shin'Ō Academy, it was cloudy outside, and her? She was sitting far away from the other students, braced against a tree receiving the worst news she could possibly receive.

From that day forward she had become so numb on the inside and joining the Kuchiki Clan had only amplified that feeling. It's not like she expected her so-called brother to welcome her with wide-open arms and act as support for her to lean on. Even in that scenario, she would never crumble that easily in front of a stranger. In one way, her brother's coldness towards her allowed her to become used to the numb feeling inside of her. Just like that, they lived in that big, empty manor suffering through their own pain alone.

She could quietly exist in this shell she created for herself without having to ever open up her wounds to anyone but herself during moments like these. She began to peel the orange slowly, her eyes were still closed and frankly, she had forgotten where she was.

Lost inside her memories, she hadn't noticed the figure who was in front of her until she felt the sun rays disappear. "What are you doing?"

Her eyes shot open and looked up immediately. Ichigo. He stood in front of her, towering her with a confused look on his face. She didn't think he'd find her given how he ate with Keigo and Mizuiro on the balcony. Guess she thought wrong.

"Uh, nothing…" Rukia said before standing up with her handbag. "Aren't you gonna eat? Lunch is only an hour."

"I was looking for you." He answered honestly. She didn't know how to respond, a bit taken aback by his answer.

"You should eat, you're going to need the energy if you're going to continue fighting hollows in my place." Rukia said as she moved away from the tree.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Ichigo brushed it aside as he watched her walk away. "Where are you going?"

"Me?" She stopped in her tracks. "Uh, for a walk. Why?"

"Uh—nothing," he diverted before looking down at the orange in her hand. "that your lunch?"

Rukia looked down at the semi-peeled orange. "Yeah."

He said nothing, not sure how to ask what he wanted to.

"Ichigo." She called, he seemed lost in thought. "Ichigo?"

"I need to go to the vending machine." He suddenly said, Rukia didn't even know what that was. "I forgot my lunch."

###

They both braced against a grey concrete box which contained random bushes near the outside of the school. There was a healthy distance between them due to the 'lunch' Ichigo had gotten from the vending machine. Two juice boxes, a sandwich, and some random chip bag rested on the perimeter of the concrete box, creating a small space between them.

They didn't say much at first. Rukia asked yet again how to open her juice box and Ichigo for the millionth time had to explain what it was and why it was in there. She questioned about the sandwich and the contents in it however, after a few bites, she settled down with her questions.

He did notice something though. Although she ate her half of the sandwich quietly, she still held onto the semi-peeled orange in her right hand for whatever reason. Even after finishing her half, she held onto it for dear life. It was weird—she was weird. The whole shinigami thing was one thing but this was a whole lot weirder. He didn't get what she was doing.

"Are you gonna eat that?" Ichigo asked, gesturing at the orange in her hand.

"Huh?" She hadn't realized she was squeezing it so tightly. "Ah, maybe later…"

Yup, she was a weirdo.

"Well, you're squeezing out the juice from it. It isn't gonna taste all that great when you're ready." What was he even talking about at this point?

"It's fine, I'll manage." Rukia said before drinking more juice. Once the straw left her lips, she turned to him—it had been on her mind to ask him this ever since he found her near that tree. "Why were you looking for me?

Ichigo looked at her. "Uh, I thought you were having lunch with Inoue."

Rukia immediately followed up with a response."And?"

"And…" He didn't know what to say. She'd been acting strange, more than usual. He wanted to ask upfront what exactly was bothering her so much that she couldn't say anything but then he remembered what she had said to him on his mom's anniversary. "When I didn't see you, I thought another hollow showed up and you went off without me."

"You fool." She immediately chided.

Ichigo blinked in surprise at her response. "Say what—?"

"Nothing." She was now smiling. Peeling off the remaining skin on the orange, she split it in half and handed it to him. "Take it."

Ichigo didn't even have time to process the change in her emotions as she looked away from him and ate the pieces of the orange with a smile. It was her first smile in a long while.

Flashback end

---

"Explain." Byakuya ordered, his voice was cold and his eyes were shut. Mayuri grudgingly felt a bit intimidated by him. It was clear that he was very, very agitated. His reiatsu spoke for him.

"Whadaya know, another liar." Captain Hirako said, waiting for the Captain to speak. Tōshirō, on the other hand, wasn't even surprised anymore. He didn't trust anyone around him.

Mayuri cursed his luck. Out of all things, why did that Captain have to mention his name when he was already well and alive. He had helped him return to this world however, it seemed that he was getting no help in return. If only he could avoid confrontations from the Gotei 13, he was already hiding the fact that the Interioreum World generator broke under his watch and now he had to answer why the Captain of the 6th Division's grandfather was alive and walking.

"Oh, my, it was just a simple request from him years ago before he died. I managed to make the experiment work and brought him back to life when it was time." It was no big deal. They were looking at him as if he killed someone in the most gruesome way possible. Surely, there were more important things to be worried about.

"How?" Captain Ukitake questioned. "This isn't something you should be speaking lightly of."

Ichigo agreed. "He's right, bringing someone back from the dead is a pretty big deal. If you've got something that can do that, say it."

"Oh, please. I'm not a god or something. Bringing back just anyone from the dead is beyond me. It wouldn't have been possible if the former Captain didn't ask for his clan to preserve his graveyard soil after his passing." Mayuri explained with his long fingernail pressed to his forehead. "It wasn't a project I was working on, it was something Urahara Kisuke had left behind. I simply attempted to revive him using his graveyard soil and the reishi from his relatives to build his body again."

"So it was a one time thing, is that what you're saying?" Tōshirō asked.

He removed his nail from his face. "Precisely. I can't bring someone back from the dead although I was able to do it with Kuchiki Ginrei for whatever reason. Truthfully I didn't believe it would even work however, it surprisingly did. All I did was insert the graveyard soil which, at the time, was fresh and contained particles of his sheatsu and reiatsu within it and then applied the reishi from his relatives to build his body. His soul found itself into his body on its own accord, I had nothing to do with that, I can assure you."

He was telling the truth. He had no way of calling a soul that was already dead to the living. It would've or rather, should've lost any sense of life or attachment. It was a dead soul—it was supposed to be gone and yet, this Captain's soul had found its way back into his body.

"Even so, how would the reishi of his relatives re-create his body and his soul still be alive to remember his life?" Captain Ukitake questioned.

"The reishi he used to create his body is from this Captain here and—"

"Rukia." Ichigo finished, he knew it had to be her though, he didn't know how to explain it.

"Well, if you're going to say it for me, why don't you explain the entire thing?" Captain Kurotsuchi sneered.

"But she isn't related to him by blood, how could her reishi have an effect in building his body accurately? If I'm correct, although that Captain isn't alive, he still has living organs and blood." Uryū said.

He was tired of all these questions. Even he didn't understand much about it. "Didn't I say I didn't know exactly how it was able to work? It was his request to use the reishi from him and Lieutenant Kuchiki so I used what he asked, are we done here?"

"That means he knew it was gonna work." Lieutenant Hisagi muttered.

Rangiku turned to Shuhei. "But how?"

"I didn't bother figuring out the reason behind it because it simply isn't any use to me. Every soul which dies in the Soul Society, departs and adds onto the reishi which creates this world, they have no further attachments to life once it scatters. Their soul just becomes what it was made out of, nothing more nothing less. Though with Captain Kuchiki, it seems that his scattered reishi, somehow, and again, this is not something that is possible, pieced itself together with his soul and came back into his body. I do not know how, I do not know why, now please stop asking me all these questions." Mayuri was already tired about this. Why couldn't they question him about his experiments rather than one he dug up for the sake of reviving one man?

"The joke about Ginrei was always that he'd live for a really long time." Captain Kyōraku said. "He had a lot of willpower for an old man. Truthfully when he died, I was sort of surprised."

"I was too." Captain Ukitake said while looking down. He slouched his shoulders as his right hand touched his head. "I'm just...this has been quite a lot of information we've been given. I just don't understand why he didn't come to me or anyone else."

"Captain Kuchiki died a natural death." Captain Unohana informed the rest who were not well-acquainted with the former Captain. "It was surprising to me too, he had been healthy for quite a long time. Though, just one day, it seemed that his body had given up. Before I knew it, he suddenly became unwell. It seemed that his time was up in this world however, seeing him now makes me feel that I was wrong."

She had felt that way the first time she saw him appear on Sōkyoku Hill.

"You think he left something undone?" Ichigo inquired.

Captain Unohana nodded her head once before Uryū intervened. "Though, even so, Kurosaki. Just because something is left behind, that doesn't mean that you can just come back. That isn't how it works, death is death."

"And yet somehow ol'Ginrei was able to make a comeback." Captain Kyōraku said before turning to Captain Kuchiki. "This is a good thing."

Byakuya didn't respond. He was too confused as to why his grandfather had not met him if he had returned. But then the question came: when exactly did he return to the living? Was the first time 15 months ago like Renji had mentioned or was it earlier? He turned to Mayuri. "When?"

"Ah, let me see." Mayuri said as he looked up, trying to remember. "I believe….it was around the time of your sister's execution, Captain Kuchiki."

The entire group of shinigami reacted at the same time minus Byakuya who had been replacing verbal reactions with the same widened expression yet again. "What?!"

Tōshirō's eyes widened. "It's been that long? And you didn't say anything?"

Mayuri stepped back at Tōshirō's accusing tone. "Well, I'm not going to tattle tail, am I? I simply followed his wishes, he didn't want anyone to know except the people he told."

"Wait a minute, what the hell? You mean, he was there? The whole fucking time? And he didn't do anything, wha—" Ichigo didn't know what to say. If he was this close to Rukia, he should've at least tried to save her, right? Forget the Kuchiki clan's devotion to the law and whatever, this was someone he clearly had a good relationship with. More importantly, he asked to use her reishi to help him come back.

"Would you quit your yelling?" Mayuri said to Ichigo. "The whole reason I was told to revive him in the first place was 'cause of the Lieutenant's execution."

"And who told you that?" Rangiku questioned, slightly turned to face him.

"Well, Lieutenant Matsumoto," he wasn't too pleased with her tude. "It was someone from the assassin side of things who came to me and requested me to do so. It was a planned project around the time of his death so when the person requested me to do it, I did it and he came back. Are we done now?"

"So?" Ichigo asked.

Mayuri said nothing.

"What the hell happened?!" Ichigo questioned angrily. His fist was clenched and his body leaned forward as he waited for the scientist's response.

"If an assassin asked him to revive the former Captain Kuchiki 'cause of Kuchiki-san's execution, doesn't that mean he came to save her?" Uryū asked, his question directed at Ichigo.

"If Ginrei came to save my Lieutenant then why didn't he come to us in the first place?" Captain Ukitake said. This was too much in an hour, he needed a rest. "Surely if he came to us and then Genryūsai-sensei, we would've had a better chance of doing something rather than Ichigo having to save her just when she was about to be executed."

"I already told you he didn't want anyone to know that he was back. He went off with the assassin and it seems that he was successful in doing whatever he wanted to do." Mayuri said.

"Which is?" Ichigo inquired. If he came back to save Rukia then shouldn't he have been able to convince the Head Captain to terminate her execution? More importantly, couldn't he have stopped Byakuya from wanting her to be executed and have him on their side?

"Do you really expect me to know all the answers to your questions, Kurosaki? I'm not acquainted with the former Captain Kuchiki, I merely helped him return to life. I know nothing of what he did or what he planned to do, I just figured he had been successful."

Ichigo was starting to get a headache. He wasn't cut out for this type of thing. Figuring it all out was frustrating. He just wanted answers, clear answers to his questions without so much complications. He was already going through enough with Rukia and all these secrets of hers, the last thing he needed was to figure out why the hell someone who was close to her and who also just-so-happened to be her adoptive grandfather didn't do anything. If he really did come back to save her, why didn't he see him just once? He didn't want to doubt his efforts since he was obviously too busy fighting everyone who stood in his way but it still was a legitimate question. If he had shown himself, surely he would've changed Byakuya's opinion. If anything, hiding didn't do anything.

Ichigo turned to Byakuya. "If he was back all along and wanted to save Rukia, he would've...he would've changed your mind and we wouldn't have...we wouldn't have had to fight with each other over this 'cause he'd give you his word that it was okay and that he wanted to save her t—"

"Silence." Byakuya commanded, his tone harsh. Everyone around him felt the need to stay quiet, it was a command that made them all feel frightful of him in that moment. He had gone through enough, his reiatsu was no longer shielding his anger. He was not in the mood clearly and with that one word, everyone stepped back.

"Byakuya-kun is right." Captain Ukitake said with a low tone. He was clearly very distressed as well. "Let's just...stay quiet for a while."

---

Rukia sat on the chair beside Byakuya's stretcher. With her right hand, she flipped through a random book, thinking about him, thinking about the moonstone. Kla was still not back yet which meant that she was still trying to figure it out. Until then, her mind would be in shambles trying to figure out how exactly Jushirmai did what he did. She just hoped that it wasn't...that.

The moonstone could not be the reason he was able to do that. He already had one gem, a single gem that had already granted him an immense amount of power over the element of ice. There was another disregarded gem in Hell that she knew he was just itching to get his hands on and now….this? Although it was only one skill he had shown in connection with the moonstone, it bothered her to no end.

If it wasn't for the sudden arrival of a familiar presence behind her, she'd probably still be wondering about how he was able to do that. Her mind hadn't been paying attention to what the book was about anyways. "You're back again?"

She turned from her seat to see the Captain behind her. "Prepare."

Rukia closed her book while she blinked in confusion. Looking up at him, she didn't notice any intent of danger in his tone, he sounded calm as ever. Though, what was she supposed to 'prepare' for? "What are you talking about?"

"I have done it."

Rukia emphasized her 'blink' to showcase her confusion yet again. "It? What is 'it'?"

"It has been done." He re-worded though Rukia still wasn't getting it.

"What 'it' has been done?" She re-asked while scrunching her eyebrows.

"The it I discussed with you earlier." Ginrei answered, eyes closed.

"Captain…" She wailed. "Speak clearly. What 'it'? You talk about many 'its'." And that was true.

"The it as in the thing I said I would do." Ginrei clarified and yet it still didn't make sense to her.

Rukia opened her mouth a little before closing it, even more confused now. She sighed while closing her eyes before reopening them. "You realize, you talk a lot about the 'things' that you're going to do. Which—"

"How dare you speak to my grandfather like that?" Rukia paused. The voice hadn't come from behind him nor was it coming from behind her. Rukia changed her expression before looking beside her to see a boy, probably in his mid-teenage years with very, very, very familiar grey eyes and black hair tied up in a ponytail. The boy had his arms crossed, dressed in some training uniform, she knew his face...she had seen it before many times….she blinked in disbelief, leaning back.

"Bya…" She couldn't even say it. How...was the younger Byakuya standing next to her now? "Byakuya?"

The younger Byakuya immediately changed his expression from confusion to immediate anger. "How dare you address me so casually? Who are you and why are you monitoring my body?"

Rukia couldn't pay attention to his words. She was still trying to grasp how the younger version of Byakuya was able to be here...in front of her. Staring at his face for a few more seconds, she quickly turned to her left to the Captain. "A….."

She couldn't find the right words. The younger Byakuya was still waiting for her response however, for the life of her, she could not voice it. Raising her right finger she pointed at him while looking at the Captain. "What have you done?"

"You asked to be surprised." Ginrei simply stated.

"Ye….Yeah but….this?" She pointed at the younger version more aggressively with her finger before putting her hand down. She parted her mouth to inhale slowly and grasp what exactly had just happened.

"What is it?" The younger Byakuya questioned, trying to catch her attention however, her eyes remained on Ginrei's.

She suddenly turned to meet the eyes of the boy before speaking. "Your grandfather is evil." She quickly said before standing up.

"What?" Byakuya quickly questioned in response as she stood up. He watched her walk up to his grandfather, only managing to hear a few words from their talk.

Rukia moved in closer to Ginrei. Her voice was relatively soft as she spoke. "Can we talk about this?"

What could bringing the younger Byakuya back have to do with what was going on now? For a fact, in spite of her pleading, he had been absolute with his decision to keep Byakuya out of this and then now, he brought back the younger version for what? The fact that he was even able to bring the younger version back from the past was still shocking to her, just the sight of it was enough to make her feel odd. She wondered what his intentions were of all of this.

The Captain opened his eyes in approval and turned around as she walked ahead of him, leaving the younger Byakuya to sit next to his present body. The moment they were at a good distance, Rukia looked up at him in confusion. "Captain….this was what you were doing?"

"You said, surprise." He tried to reason though given how impassive his voice tended to be, he assumed she hadn't taken the hint.

"...I guess...fine," She suddenly agreed. "I said 'surprise' but let's just get one thing straight."

Ginrei finished for her. "I presume you never want me to surprise you again."

"That's an understatement." Rukia said before looking at the younger Byakuya from afar. "Why did you suddenly decide to bring him back? Won't this change the future then?"

"I have decided…" Rukia waited for him to continue as he closed his eyes. "...to tell him the truth."

'Huh?' Rukia wanted to say however, the reaction hadn't left her mouth. She perked up in surprise at his statement, not responding for a few seconds before relaxing her shoulders. "...really?"

He had been against telling Byakuya the truth for as long as she had known him. Although, ever since he came back, she had been trying to convince him to say something so that she could say something sooner and yet, he hadn't budged not once. In truth, he was very strict and once he made up his mind on matters, it was final and in spite of how long she had known him for, she would not dare cross her boundaries. Though, she was greatly aware of her limits. He was an easy person to fear if you didn't know him well enough, being an elder of a noble clan like the Kuchiki clan, he was very conservative and quietly hostile. Aware of his behavior, Rukia never bothered to question why Byakuya was the way he was, he had grown up with a great role model when it came to handling matters and separating emotion from work.

The Captain had created the Common Kuchiki Law in order to prevent Byakuya from knowing the truth, something he was strongly against Byakuya knowing. The repercussions of telling him even a little information in relation to the assassins or the Kuchiki clan's relation to the assassins were very excessive, though she knew he placed such extreme measures to avoid him knowing at all costs. That being said, she was quite stunned at his sudden change of...heart.

"Why?" Rukia questioned, her arms crossed.

His eyes opened. "You won."

She waited for him to continue speaking though instead, he uncrossed his arms and rested his right hand on her shoulder. "But what about...the Common Kuchiki.."

"You offered your help." Ginrei said. "You said before that if I chose to tell him the truth you would assist me in telling."

Rukia bit her bottom lip, glancing at the younger Byakuya and back. "You...You don't seem ready."

She didn't know why but she doubted it. Although she had tried her best to reason with him ever since her execution, she still couldn't see why his mind would suddenly change after centuries of wanting to keep him away from it.

"I am not." He responded honestly causing her to instinctively move closer to him.

"You don't have too…" Her voice was barely above a whisper. "I'm…"

"Do not say it." He cut her off. "You have nothing to apologize for. This was bound to happen."

"So...you brought the younger Byakuya back to tell him as a test? I'm assuming it's because you wanted to see what his reaction would be like so that when you tell the older version…" It all began to make sense on its own. When he had arrived, he had told her yet again not to tell Byakuya anything if he woke up (AN: Strangers: Are we?) however, he had left soon after to complete this project having to do with time. It made her wonder, "when did you change your mind?"

"Before I left, fifteen months ago."

Rukia opened her mouth and closed it to reflect her shock before looking at him, unforgiving. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"You said, surprise." He emphasized with his brows as he stared at her.

"That was earlier, I'm talking about then, before you left." She wasn't mad, her unforgiving tone was merely out of disbelief. The Captain was crazy, absolutely crazy for not telling her.

"Forgive me however,"

She knew what he was going to say. Closing her eyes in her annoyance, she gave in. "I said, 'surprise'."

Captain Ukitake, who had been watching from a distance, couldn't help but admire the interaction. Although he didn't understand it, it gave him peace to watch Rukia and Ginrei interact so naturally. To see her be so comfortable around him, enough to speak as freely as she did made him happy. He just wished he had known sooner that they were well-acquainted with each other.

There was a lot he didn't understand about it, the fact that Ginrei knew who Rukia was was one thing however, the way they spoke with each other indicated that they had known each other for a long time. In almost two years, he didn't think that Ginrei would be as open to Rukia, she was not a noble nor was she related to the family by blood therefore, he knew that they must've known each other prior though how….was the real question.

Byakuya was standing not too far from him, he could certainly hear their interaction though he wasn't speaking. Captain Ukitake knew that it was bothering him, Rukia's adoption had not been a normal adoption for sure. The fact that it was more than likely that they had known each other prior to it all bothered him a bit too. He wasn't sure why Rukia would hide such a thing from them. Even if Ginrei had been long gone by that time, she could've said anything and yet, it took a simple mistake of them getting stuck in a forgotten world for them to find out the truth.

Though, the fact that Ginrei was now open to telling Byakuya the truth made him feel relieved. It meant that they would be getting more answers but more importantly, Byakuya would not be left so in the dark.

She was about to turn around however, she stopped. "Wait—how do we tell him this? This has to come from you."

"I will briefly inform him. I have already discussed with him the nature of our situation."

"And then what?" Rukia asked, trying to follow his eyes as he moved.

Ginrei walked past her, letting his scarf hit her lightly. "He will start to question you."

Rukia let out a breath and lowered her head to groan as she followed Ginrei back to the younger Byakuya. She knew a bit of what the younger Byakuya was like, though it was only a bit. She didn't know how he'd react to the news. With the little information she knew, it always sort of amazed her looking at the older version who had grown to be the complete opposite of what she remembered him being like. Strangely enough, her stories hadn't come from Yoruichi….all her memories of the younger Byakuya were completely….from experience.

As they approached the line of stretchers again, she caught something from the side of her left eye and immediately stopped. "Why is she here?"

The Captain stopped in front of her as she stared at the younger version of herself from the Rukongai, helping her younger brother out who she assumed introduced himself immediately. From her hair….to that purple kimono...to the light wool black cardigan she wore over it, she paused, looking at Ginrei for answers.

"This is how you will explain the nature of your past."

"Bu—" Bringing back the younger Byakuya was one thing but herself too? She wasn't ready.

"This is your test." Ginrei briefed, his back to her. "And that is mine."

He was gesturing to the younger Byakuya ahead.

---

"I do not understand." The younger Byakuya began to say. "Why are you a part of my clan?" His brows furrowed while staring at Rukia who wasn't sure what to say in response.

"Well, you see..." she wasn't sure what to say.

How was she going to explain the fact that she was his sister-in-law and adoptive sister—known to be her older sister's baby sister to the older him—who he was told to find and take care of as a promise to her older sister, who was also his wife, who died a little over 50 years ago? It didn't help that the younger version of her was here as well. They were from the same time and it was visible that they were close in age. Explaining the 'baby sister' part wouldn't make sense. Not to mention, the younger Byakuya was much different from the present version. She wasn't sure how he'd react to the news of the older version of him marrying someone who was a commoner. It was hard finding ways to explain.

He was very impatient. "I'm waiting."

"Ah, well you see..." She began, attempting to say it all at once but again, she couldn't follow through with it. "This is sort of hard to explain."

"Why?"

"Well, me ending up in the Kuchiki clan is sort of complicated in a way." She tried to explain.

"How?" He was really impatient.

"Um...well...there's two sides of the story. Yours and well...mine. 'Cause of that, it makes it difficult to explain. I'm not sure which one I should tell." She answered honestly.

She could tell the younger Byakuya his side of her adoption but the Captain had brought this Byakuya back to do what he hadn't done years ago and that exact thing was included on her side; the assassins. The clan that was hidden from him was a part of her side of things—although, it was less about her adoption and more about her life in general.

Rukia sighed.

Staring down at her own fingers, she hadn't noticed that the younger Byakuya had followed her gaze and recognized that the gloves she was wearing did not belong to the Kuchiki clan. She was too lost in her fidgeting to realize before he acknowledged it himself.

"That is not my clan's symbol." He acknowledged, Rukia glanced up at him immediately. "I do not know what clan that is from but it's not mine. Who are you?"

She didn't say anything.

"Tell me who you are." He demanded. Rukia breathed in and out before glancing up at Ginrei who had been watching.

"She is..." He paused. "...a member of the Okasake clan."

The Gotei 13 who were crowded around that one stretcher all gasped.

"I knew it." Uryū immediately said before turning to Ichigo. "I told you, Kurosaki."

Ichigo's eyes widened, visibly confused. What the hell, Rukia?

"NEE-SAN'S A PART OF THE ASSASSIN CLAN?!" Kon yelled while standing on Ichigo's shoulder.

"Didn't I say Lieutenant Kuchiki's been filled with surprises lately, Captain Sui-Fēng? I knew she'd surprise you eventually." Captain Kyōraku said, looking back at the short Captain who was shocked as well.

"Impossible." She responded, refusing to believe it. "There is no way she could ever be associated in that way."

"If Ginrei-dono is saying it then it must be true." Captain Ukitake said. "They seem to have a very close relationship with each other."

Too many things were happening at once for him to focus. The fact that Ginrei was back...alive—even if it was through Mayuri's experiment—was still on his mind and then his close friendship with Rukia and now this...he had expected them to be more surprised but this was beyond his imagination and anything above. He had been trying to make sense of how his Lieutenant could form such a relationship with the Okasake clan, even the quincy's hypothesis of her being someone the Okasake heir loved was more plausible than this.

How could….How could she be a member of the Okasake clan? One of the four great noble clans...the clan that runs the entirety of the Soul Society….? There were so many questions which followed that. How? Why? Where? When? He just wished she could answer them all at once. Being a member of another noble clan...was quite outrageous.

Byakuya, who had endured the most surprises, said nothing. He was more than confused, nothing made sense to him. To make matters worse, he didn't have enough time to make sense of the surprises that had come with entering the Interioreum World. He had learned more than he had intended too and now, it seemed that there would be surprises at every corner. No matter how much he tried, nothing added up. Although he didn't show it, he was confused as to why he had been lied to all these years if it was true. If she had been a member of another clan, why had she not said anything? Why hadn't the elders found her name or knew of her if that was the case?

"Is she a member by blood, marriage, or adoption?" Uryū questioned shortly after. "Whichever it is, if she's a member of the Okasake clan then it makes sense as to why she would have that type of information. After all, she is family. That's why that Okasake heir said what he said earlier...he said that 'Kuchiki-san was family' I suppose this is what he meant."

"Wait, Ichigo? What about the Kuchiki clan? How'd Nee-san end up there if she belongs to the Okasake clan?" Kon whispered to Ichigo.

"I have no idea." Ichigo responded honestly. "She would've told me."

Something didn't feel right about this. There's no way that she would've hidden this much from him. Byakuya's clan barely liked her because she was from the Rukongai, how could the Okasake clan, if they were just as old and prestigious, ask her to be a part of their clan?

"What?" The younger Byakuya questioned. "You are a member of the assassin clan grandfather told me about?"

Rukia nodded her head in response. It wasn't entirely true but it wasn't entirely false either. Again, it was complicated to say the least.

Captain Ukitake closed his eyes immediately, not being able to handle her silent confirmation.

Rukia….what the fuck is all of this? So it's true? You are a member? What the hell is all of this? Ichigo lightly clenched his fist. This was bothering him too much, he couldn't make sense of why she didn't say anything...to him at least. He didn't even want to look at Byakuya right now, he knew he was angry from before but this was….this was fucking crazy.

You can do it, Kuchiki-san...Captain Unohana encouraged her in her mind, having known all of this.

"Are you a spy?" He began to question. He did not understand this woman at all.

"Huh?" Rukia asked, caught by surprise. "No, of course not. Why would I be spying on the Kuchiki clan?"

"Then why are you in my clan if you are a part of another noble clan?" He inquired.

"Well—"

"It does not make sense. Why are you in my clan? You would have no reason to be a part of it unless you were sent as a spy." He accused, visibly very passionate.

"I'm not a spy. I can assure you, Byakuya, I'm not. I entered the Kuchiki clan willingly, it had nothing to do with the fact that I am a member of the Okasake clan." Rukia said, trying to calm him down. She smiled with her eyes slitted and her hands up in a surrendering pose.

The Interioreum World Byakuya looked at her for the first time in a while.

"Then why did you enter my clan?" He asked again. He was very...determined.

"It's as I said, it's a bit complicated." Rukia said, still trying to calm him down.

"Explain." He demanded.

Ginrei tried to speak for her. "She was asked to join the Okasake clan at a young age while she was still living in the Rukongai however, she didn't wish to be formally adopted into the clan. As a result, she became a member of the clan without being legally adopted as one. She continued to share a close union with them in spite of it."

"So she's not adopted." Ichigo reiterated, somehow he felt relieved of the fact. It didn't make the situation any better, she still had relations with them because of something like that but suddenly, he felt a whole lot calmer knowing that there was nothing legal involved. Although he wasn't the best at sensing Byakuya's emotions, he could tell from the side of him that it relieved him a bit too though...it was only a little.

"You certainly know a lot about this, grandfather." Byakuya said in response to him before turning back to Rukia. "So, you are a spy."

"What?" Rukia asked before smiling again. "I already told you, I'm not a spy."

"Well, you are not a noble either. Why would a noble clan want to adopt a peasant from the Rukongai?" Byakuya questioned.

"Peasant?" Rukia asked, surprised at the term he used.

"Commoner." Byakuya corrected. "It does not make sense. Grandfather already said they had an heir. Is that not the man who is the cause of all of this?"

"Well, that is true but—" He cut her off again.

"But nothing. They had no reason to adopt a random commoner from the Rukongai which brings me back to my initial question. Who are you?" Byakuya asked.

"Byakuya—" She tried to continue but it seems that the younger Byakuya had a thing for cutting people off.

"Answer my question." He ordered. "Do not avoid it."

Rukia sighed in defeat. "I was asked to be formally adopted as the grand-daughter of Sensei Okasake however, I refused his offer. The reason for my adoption wasn't 'cause I was any use to the Okasake clan in that way they just...wanted too."

"That still doesn't make any sense." Byakuya countered. "You expect me to believe that they chose to adopt you solely 'because they wanted too?"

"...yes?" Rukia responded.

"Impossible. You're hiding something." Byakuya said and Rukia couldn't lie, she was hiding something but to explain all of that would be very hard with this Byakuya. She could barely get past the reason she was in the Kuchiki clan as of now.

"Oh, fuck it. Not that I'm interested in helping ya but she was also, once upon a time, supposed to be his wife too so that tells you a lot about how fucked up everything was at the time. But then again, your family set up is even worse so I wouldn't jump to criticize them if I were you." Raiden, who just so happened to be 'passing by', said. The Interioreum World Byakuya did not miss the chance to glare at the quincy's comment regarding his family setup before resuming his attention to Rukia.

"Wife?" Younger Byakuya questioned before turning to Rukia. "You were supposed to be the Okasake heir's wife and yet they wanted to adopt you?"

"So, she was a candidate to be Okasake Jushirmai's wife, see Kurosaki." Uryū said while proudly pushing up his glasses. He had been right about it all along even though it was...very unusual. Ichigo grumbled in response at the fact he was right.

"A-Ah well, Byakuya it's more complicated than that." Rukia said, trying to calm him down yet again.

"Then explain it."

"It's true that I was also asked to be his wife but it isn't the way you're thinking it to be. The whole situation is just very complicated—it isn't what it seems." Rukia said, she was having a hard time.

Being asked to be his wife wasn't as simple as it seemed. It had nothing to do with continuing the Okasake clan name or for something like love. Her being asked to wed him was a part of something much more difficult and explaining it to a very easily frustrated Byakuya was just too difficult.

"Sensei Okasake Hiroshima who adopted Okasake Jushirmai as his son wanted him and I to wed for specific reasons—it isn't what you're thinking at all. Sensei Okasake Hirosuke is the one who wanted to adopt me as his granddaughter but I kindly refused to be formally adopted. More importantly, Okasake Jushirmai and I were close in age so to have him be Sensei Okasake's son while also having me as a granddaughter was too complicated."

"See Ishida, there's more to this than you all think." Ichigo said. "I'm telling you there's something more."

"Ichigo-san may be right." Captain Ukitake said, now coming to understand a bit of his Lieutenant's side.

"So one Okasake wanted her to marry him and the other wanted to adopt her as family..." Uryū said out loud, still thinking. "Wonder how the Okasake heir felt about this. Did he want to marry her or did he want her solely for the information she possesses?"

"Could go either way if you ask me." Captain Hirako said. "That whole dynamic is still a bit odd I mean, aren't the Okasake twins old? Like, old, old. Adopting a son at that age and then wanting to adopt a granddaughter and then have them marry I—"

"It was one-sided. Sensei Okasake was always the most sensible one between the two. I think he only agreed to adopt Jushirmai as his nephew for the sake of his brother." Captain Ukitake said. "His intention with my Lieutenant might've been different."

"So what happened?" Byakuya questioned, a bit calmer now. "Did you marry?"

"No." Rukia said. "I didn't want too and Sensei Okasake respected my decision."

"Impossible." Byakuya quickly dismissed her claim, not believing that was it to her story. "Is that how you ended up in my clan?"

"What?" Rukia asked, not following.

"You are a runaway bride and needed some place to hide?"

"What? No, Byakuya!" Rukia said, she would laugh if he didn't intend it in such a serious way. "I'm not a runaway bride and I did not enter your clan 'cause of that either. It's true, I said I didn't want too and Sensei Okasake respected my decision. I can't say much for the other Sensei Okasake however, he didn't force me." Rukia responded honestly.

"I still do not understand. If you're not a runaway bride then you are a spy. If you are not a spy, then you are a runaway bride. I do not see any reason why you would've been adopted." He was clearly very hard headed.

"For the 5th time, I'm not a spy." Rukia said. She couldn't hide her smile, the thought of being a spy was ridiculous. She could never. "What would I even be searching for? The Kuchiki clan no longer shares a relationship with the assassin side."

"Are you...Are you laughing?" Byakuya asked, leaning in a bit closer before moving back. "Are you saying that my clan isn't formidable enough to be spied on?"

"No, no, no." Rukia said, waving her hand in front of him. She was trying her best to hold it in. "It's just...not possible for me to ever be a spy for your clan even if it was ever needed."

Byakuya turned to Ginrei. "Grandfather, she is clearly insulting our clan. How are you okay with this?" He was now pointing at her while she tried to bite back her laugh.

"I'm not a spy nor am I a runaway bride." Rukia said before resting her only hand on his shoulders, he turned to face her. He was about to question why she was touching him however, he became focused on her gaze that dare-he-day turned motherly. "Listen," she spoke softly "if you stay quiet and let me explain without interrupting, I'll tell you. No reactions, no commentary, nothing. I'll explain to you from your side of things as to why I'm a part of the Kuchiki clan, alright?"

He quietly nodded his head. "Alright, in your future which in present time has passed, you will marry my older sister, who at the time, I know nothing about and was separated from a long time ago when I entered the Rukongai from the human world. My older sister, who left me, will try searching for me—having harboured guilt for abandoning me in the Rukongai as it appears to her. Eventually, she will become ill and pass away from that illness however, she will request that you find me, as in her baby sister, and adopt me into your clan as your sister instead. She will also tell you not to tell me the truth about us being related. After she passes, you will find me in the Shin'Ō academy and the Kuchiki clan will ask to formally adopt me and I will accept. That is how I'm a part of the Kuchiki clan, I'm your sister-in-law but also your adoptive sister."

He did not say anything in response. He let the story sink in until it felt real—although it wasn't easy. He stared at the older version of him to his left who Rukia had been tending too regularly before looking back up at her. It wasn't something easy to digest, he had many questions he wanted to ask and many parts he doubted—specifically the fact that he had married a commoner, something he had never expected to do. He didn't say anything for a long while, he just stared back and forth or onto the ground. He hadn't expected his life to turn this way at all.

The Interioreum World Byakuya closed his eyes as his life story was now known to the Gotei 13 solely based on unfortunate circumstances being the Interioreum World. He did not want to feel their stares on him, they were already being exposed to information they should not be. It was very clear that he could not avoid it any longer given how involved Rukia was in the matter.

"Are...you okay?" Rukia questioned the younger him, he glanced up to see her eyes filled with concern. He didn't respond but instead, held her gaze. He did not know this woman of all people would've turned out to be his sister of all things. He had accused her of being a spy and using his clan to run away 'cause she didn't wish to marry in addition to calling her a peasant however, she was his sister. He didn't want to admit it but he thought he should apologize—but didn't.

The Gotei 13 said nothing in response to the story even though they had never known that was the reason behind her adoption. It was not something they were supposed to hear or know, besides the few members including Ichigo who had known. It was not a story they should be making commentary over so they stayed silent, keeping their opinions to themselves. The life of Kuchiki Byakuya was one some had wondered about, given how reserved he was, but to find out something personal like this was never the intention.

Rukia removed her hand from his shoulder, now moving back to sit up properly. She was still staring at him as he quietly stood in front of her.

"What about her?" He asked, now pointing at the younger version of herself who was helping out Jushirmai. "You claim that your sister told me to find her baby sister however, that version of you and I are from the exact same time and we are close in age. Explain that."

"This is what I meant about everything being too complicated to explain all at once. There are two sides to this story—one being your version and one being mine. In your version and in hers, she abandoned me as a baby however, when I came to the Rukongai...and woke up here, I wasn't a baby. I was grown enough to remember how and where I woke up, however she arrived at that conclusion is still something I can't understand. Later on in life, I managed to regain my memory of some parts of my human life. They weren't exactly clear but my memories added up and I remembered the life I lived as a human. We were sisters but not separated by as many years as you think. We only had a three year human age-gap between us and we also had a younger brother. These are the details that I remember of my life however, she remembered things differently. I never really understood why or how she came to that conclusion but that's what she had told you...that's why I'm here."

The Interioreum World Byakuya reopened his eyes to stare at her again. This was information he should have been told as soon as she realized it. He had told her the reason behind her adoption, finding it necessary to explain to her after the execution affair as to why she was there however, she had known - fully aware that she was not a baby when she had woken up in the Rukongai and that Hisana had been mistaken and yet….she lied.

"I see." Byakuya said, once again falling silent.

Ginrei exhaled behind him. "It isn't easy to explain all that has happened in a short time. Take a break." He advised before putting his right hand on Byakuya's shoulder.

Byakuya didn't say anything in response. He glanced up at Rukia once before nodding his head and turning around to leave. The Interioreum World Byakuya was more than confused by his grandfather's actions, he clearly knew a lot about the woman he had adopted a little over 50 years ago. More than him.

"Thanks." Rukia said to Ginrei as he left.

"Do not push yourself to explain, it will take awhile to explain everything." He advised her.

"I won't. It's just...hard. I never imagined it being this difficult and yet, even with the younger version I'm having a hard time." Rukia said, playing with her fingers in her lap before looking at Byakuya's body on the stretcher. "What are you going to do about Nii-sama? If you brought the younger Byakuya as a test, you should try explaining to him the rest."

"I am not sure." He responded, now staring at Byakuya's body. "I still…." He stopped. "do not wish for him to know of the assassins."

Rukia turned to look at him, gaze a lot softer with a small smile forming. She knew he wasn't ready.

This wasn't going to be easy even if he tried to seem ready, he wasn't and she wasn't either. It was a mutual struggle. "Don't push yourself...I know I wanted you to let him know however, the more I think about it and talk about it—so much that it begins to feel real—I'm starting to question whether we should."

She was now staring at her feet which swung back and forth. Her hands clutched the side of Ichigo's stretcher as she immersed herself in her thoughts. To tell or not to tell, she questioned. She had managed to sit on it earlier, her back now nearly touching his body. It was so comfortable she hadn't bothered to move even when the younger Byakuya had begun questioning her. Ginrei's right hand touched her shoulder, she looked up at him the moment it did. "Take a break. I will do the rest of the explaining."

"Are you sure?" She asked, knowing that it was difficult for him as well.

He nodded his head forward while the Gotei 13 stared, wondering what the two could possibly be hiding.

---

"You." The younger Byakuya hollered, directed at a younger Rukia who was holding towels in her hands. She didn't pay attention, walking past him as if he didn't exist. His temper was already rising. "Hey!"

The younger Rukia continued walking. In such a short time, the younger Byakuya was able to conclude that they were very stubborn people. One more than the other.

"Peasant!" He called this time, hoping that he wouldn't have to chase her. That was not his thing.

The younger Rukia turned around. "Are you talking to me?"

Byakuya internally grumbled. "Yes, you—who else?"

Rukia blinked in confusion. "What do you want?"

The nerve, Byakuya thought.

"Hellooo?" She called again, it only infuriated him.

"We need to talk." Byakuya said, trying to sound as uncaring as his grandfather's tone. His arms were crossed and he waited for her to walk forward so that they were at least within speaking distance however, she didn't move.

"About?" He tried to maintain his composure, not wanting to easily snap as he did when the feline bothered him.

"You are a member of the Okasake clan and yet you are in mine. Although the older version of you told me the reason behind your adoption, I still suspect you are a spy." Byakuya said. He did not want to believe them as easily.

Rukia almost broke down laughing. "S-Spy?"

Byakuya blinked in annoyance. "What is it with you and the older version of you with laughing? It is a legitimate concern."

Rukia took a few steps closer. "I can assure you," she tried her best to bite back her laugh. "I'm not a spy. What would I even be spying on?"

Ridiculous, he thought. Both of them were absolutely ridiculous—the same question all over again, 'what would I even be spying on?', it was as if they looked down upon his clan and found them unworthy. She continued speaking. "Listen, the Okasake clan and your clan are allies, there would never be a case scenario where they would need to spy on your clan and even so, I would never be a spy."

"I am aware of that however, the fact that you ended up in my clan and you somehow 'coincidentally' knew my grandfather prior to all of this, is too suspicious. You expect me to believe that is a coincidence?"

Rukia sighed. "Yes, I believe it is. I can assure you, I would never spy on your clan. There must've been a reason."

Byakuya hesitated a bit before speaking. "You do not know."

"Huh?" She was surprised, the way he spoke seemed like he was intending that he knew before her. "No, older me hasn't explained to me yet. Why? Do you?"

He didn't say anything in response.

"You mean to tell me that you know why I ended up in your clan and you're still accusing me of being a spy?" Rukia asked in disbelief before sighing. "Ah, never mind. I shouldn't have expected anything from the Kuchiki heir."

"Excuse me?"

"I can assure you," she re-stated once again. "I am not a spy, there is no reason why Sensei Okasake would make me spy on you or your clan, the thought in itself is ridiculous."

He scoffed. "You do not even know why you were adopted into my clan and yet you think that you're not a spy?"

"Yes, I'm telling you that I'm not. I don't know why and I don't understand how, out of all the places I could possibly end up, I ended up in the Kuchiki clan however, I can tell you one thing for sure. I'm not a spy." Rukia said, about to walk away however, his voice stopped her.

"You are very odd." He commented.

"What?" Rukia asked, almost dropping the folded towels she was carrying.

"You are very odd." He re-stated. "I still do not understand. That can't be a coincidence. More importantly, even if what the older version of you said to me is true, there are still many holes in her story. I find it hard to believe that any peasant such as yourself would refuse to be adopted into a prestigious clan without reason."

Rukia slightly parted her mouth wide to reflect the shock she felt the moment the words left his mouth. "Excuse me?"

"They asked to formally adopt you however, you denied. Why would you willingly choose to remain in the Rukongai when a life of stability was being offered to you on a plate? And then somehow, decades later, change your mind?" He questioned. "You could've grown up wealthy and as a noble to a family that wanted you, it does not make sense."

Byakuya waited for her answer. By the look in her eyes, he presumed he must've hit a nerve as her facial expression was mixed with anger and disbelief.

"The fact that they even offered to adopt someone like me made me happy, I was happy with that thought alone and nothing else. They were kind to me and we had a close relationship but more importantly, they respected me. Sensei Okasake didn't look at it as if he was offering silver spoons and that I was just one of those kids he encountered who was being ungrateful and selective. He made sure he understood my side of things and waited. When I kindly refused for my personal reasons, he never pushed me or called me ungrateful. Why? 'Cause he respected me and my decision. I wasn't looking for riches or status, those things don't matter to me. I just couldn't do it, alright?"

When Byakuya responded, his voice was much lower. "What is it that you couldn't do? If a family is what you wanted and you claim that you were close to them, then why didn't you accept it?"

She could tell the younger version of her was biting back to save face. She didn't speak for a while. In that moment, Rukia made note to remind her younger self not to be around the younger Byakuya. He was here for the purpose of Captain Kuchiki explaining the past as a test, there was no reason why her younger self had to feel this way while being here.

"Because they weren't my blood." She answered and walked away. Rukia watched her as she went, leaving Byakuya quiet.

---

"You are not upset with me." It wasn't intended as a question, it was an observation.

The older Rukia was back to fixing the tubes that were attached to the present Byakuya's body and adding the necessary injections her younger brother had advised her to do. While she fixed the tubes, the younger Byakuya stood close to her for whatever reason and watched.

Rukia slowly met his eyes and went 'huh?', clearly distracted. He repeated it again, "you are not upset with me like the younger version of you is."

She stopped what she was doing, a small smile formed on her lips. "Why would I be upset?"

This time, it was Byakuya's turn to say 'huh?'. "I offended her—the younger you, I mean—however, you are not."

"People change." She said. "All you did was ask reasonable questions, I just wasn't able to handle the truth."

"So, you were not bothered?" He looked up, trying to catch her eyes.

"Nope." Rukia said. "Though, I do think the younger me has a right to be offended. I don't know anyone who can handle someone reading out their insecurities or question their emotions when they aren't even ready to admit them to themselves yet."

"Is that supposed to imply that you have admitted to yourself the reason why you denied?" He inquired.

"I faced that a long time ago." Rukia said before moving him closer. For a mere second, Rukia was convinced that she had him flustered; however, he quickly regained his composure and cleared his throat. "Here."

"What are you doing?" He questioned. The authoritative tone had left him.

"Teaching you how to fix and fill these tubes." Rukia said as she pushed him in front of him. In response, he just followed her instructions, occasionally muttering 'here?', 'very well', and 'how about…' while she explained how to do it.

"By the way…"

Rukia hummed in response as the younger Byakuya followed along. "Since my grandfather refuses to call you by your name for whatever reason, what is it?"

"Ah," she looked down at him. This Byakuya was quite short, if she was back to her soul reaper form, they'd probably be around the same height. "It's Rukia."

"Rukia?"

She nodded her head. "Yeah, why?"

"Why is it that my grandfather calls you that?" He was referring to 'my dear'. "Your name is just fine."

"I used to think he just forgot my name so I kept reminding him over and over again but it just...stuck."

"Very well then." And Rukia could've sworn that she saw a light red colour near his cheeks, though it disappeared rather quickly. "Though….I still do not trust you."

He was struggling to reach the tube as she instructed. "I never asked you too."

"Huh?" He stopped what he was doing to look at her.

"I just ask that you don't doubt my sincerity." Rukia said and she was being serious.

The last thing she wanted to do was induce more harm. Given how careful she and the Captain were being, trusting them—especially her—would only harm him. She just didn't want either of them—that included the older version she knew—to doubt her sincerity.

"Regardless of what you find out, I just want you to trust that I was being sincere to you. I just want you to trust that...trust that any action I did towards you was sincere."

The younger Byakuya stared at her a bit stunned. Ichigo who stood close to her smiled, this is what he wanted the Gotei 13 to see, in spite of all the craziness that came with her secrets, she was still Rukia. They could think of her as a liar and it was true that she was clearly hiding a lot though, Rukia would always be Rukia at heart. Not even for a second would he doubt her sincerity to him or anybody else. The fact that she confirmed it herself made him happy. She may not have been honest with a whole lot but her heart would never try to deceive them.

The more Ichigo thought about it, he realized why Renji had shown them those pictures in her room (AN: Scattering Stars like Dust). It wasn't evidence to clear her name but to remind the Gotei 13 that her heart was always sincere to them. He just hoped that Byakuya realized that too.

---

After a while, Rukia quietly resumed reading her book as she sat next to Ichigo's body. Though, yet again, she wasn't wholly invested. The fact that the younger version of her was here as well, awaiting answers bothered her more than Jushirmai using the moonstone did.

She couldn't find the heart to explain everything that had occurred to them ever since their Rukongai days. Occasionally, her hand fell to her quotebook which was safely kept in the pocket of her doctor's coat however, she couldn't give it to her younger self...it would destroy her...emotionally….mentally...she wasn't ready.

Though, she couldn't keep her in the dark forever. That much she knew.

Her eyes suddenly fell upon the younger Byakuya and the Captain next to one another. The younger Byakuya was sitting while the Captain was standing. He was struggling, she could tell from far. She knew this was going to be hard, the fact that he even went as far to bring the younger Byakuya back just showed how much he was trying and yet, she knew...he wasn't ready.

In truth, it bothered her that she couldn't be much help. She was already struggling to return to the past let alone, say it all in one go. There's only one thing which existed that could save them and Rukia knew exactly what it was. It was the same thing she had thought of giving the younger version of herself earlier.

Her quotebook.

The thick, light brown journal she had managed to find and keep as her personal account of things in the Rukongai. It was the only existing piece of information of her entire life story, it was where she had been completely honest with detailed accounts of the things she had experienced. It was very personal to her, she didn't even like Ichigo touching it. Staring at him now—the Captain, that is—she knew that part of the reason he was struggling was due to her pressure as well.

She had tried her best to persuade him a lot and if she ever did manage to convince him, she thought she'd feel like the most successful person there is and yet, the feeling backfired on her. She felt bad—guilty—for trying so hard to do so when he wasn't ready. Though….was it worth giving up her entire life journal to someone to read? Her thoughts? Her personal, most intimate feelings in regards to things?

---

"Here." Rukia said, handing the younger Byakuya her quotebook—he looked up, confused at what she was handing him.

It had been a quick decision, one she would've never seen herself making until now.

It was the only document that could help them both. Neither were ready.

"What is this?"

"This..." She paused for a bit. "This will tell you everything you need to know."

"What?"

"This..." she took a deep breath. "is mine—it's something personal, my life...in writing pretty much." She paused again. "I know it doesn't seem relevant but it is. It will tell you everything Captain has been wanting to say to you for the most part or at the very least give you a general idea of what's going on, even if it's from my perspective and not his. From the assassins to your family connection to them, the reason why Captain Kuchiki and I know each other, the reason why I entered your clan, information on Okasake Jushirmai and the Okasake clan, everything is in here."

Byakuya eyed the book, not sure what to say. He turned around to look at his grandfather before looking back at the book. "This has everything?"

"Most." She corrected. "Again, this is my life from my perspective. It can't tell you everything but once you're done, Captain Kuchiki will be able to fill in the missing parts."

"Well then," Byakuya began to say. "let it go then."

"Huh?" Rukia asked—not realizing that she was still gripping the book as hard. Byakuya tried to pry the book with his one arm out of her hand though a part of her was still very adamant to share it.

"H-Hold on. I have a few...conditions." She said, starting to second guess in a wave of panic.

"Conditions? What conditions? You said you would let me read it." Byakuya responded. The younger Byakuya easily got frustrated, she could tell.

"Well, this is a book containing my feelings and some parts, especially the beginning won't be useful to you. There are also parts that would make me feel uncomfortable about you reading. At the end of the day, this is kind of like my journal. It would be nice if you especially avoided pages 161-178, 908-1112, 408-490, probably the entire section from 0 to 503 actually, and then so on should be fine." Rukia said shortly before rambling on further, realizing that she had a lot of parts where she had shared some intimate feelings regarding herself and some situations that she didn't want him to read. "Also 1403-1411, 1509-1510, don't read any pages that are marked with the date July 23rd, doesn't matter the year. Also, August 10th—I'd avoid that one especially. I have some things folded in there as well, don't open any of those things please. Ah, and avoid any section that involves chess. Now that I think about it, I should probably write these down for you. There's no way you're going to reme—"

"Don't be ridiculous. My memory is fine, I will avoid those pages." Byakuya said, she could tell he was very confident in his abilities and had rather no shame in showing them off. Rukia slightly smiled in response however, she still didn't let it go.

"Grandfather," Byakuya called, not being able to pull the book out of her grasp. "she's not letting go."

"Forgive her, she has difficulty letting it go." Ginrei said in response as he watched Byakuya try to pull it out of her right hand.

"You certainly," he tried pulling harder. "know a lot," Again, he tried to pull. "about her," ughhh "grandfather."

Finally, she let the book go and it went flying into his hands. "Thank you."

"Ah," Rukia diverted her attention to Ginrei once she had let the book go. "the younger version of me..." She started to say.

Ginrei understood immediately. He would return the favor.

"I understand." He responded. "I will be back." He said to Byakuya.

"Huh?" He responded, not understanding why he was going. "But, grand—"

"It's okay." Rukia cut him off. "He'll be back. For now you should start reading so that you can understand." She encouraged before turning around however, Byakuya made her stop in her tracks.

"Uh...Rukia...?" He called.

"Huh?" She asked, turning half way around.

It was a bit awkward hearing him call her name with that voice. "Thank you...for this." He was referring to her quotebook.

Well….that was unexpected.

She slightly smiled in response before speaking. "You're welcome."

Maybe he isn't that much of a brat, after all.

---

Rukia crouched down between Byakuya's and Ichigo's stretchers, going through some old books in a box. The Captain has asked her to find a specific one and give it to the younger Byakuya to further help him understand things however, she could not find it.

Renji was left behind in the Soul Society according to the Captain, the Bounts were asleep on top of different bodies, Kisuke had lightly dozed off near Yoruichi's stretcher, and Jushirmai, her younger self, and Tessai had returned to the World of the Living. The Captain had also returned to the Soul Society in search of something. That left her and the younger Byakuya who was sitting in front of her while reading her quotebook quietly.

Fortunately he had not questioned her yet. For the first time ever since arriving here, he was quiet and Rukia never thought she would be grateful for that.

The older Byakuya, having adopted a similar manner to that of his grandfather, rarely spoke, enjoying silence whereas his younger self was very much the opposite. It was funny that she had convinced herself that telling the younger Byakuya the truth would've been easier, it was much more difficult. He was very impatient and had a tendency to cut her off. As childish as it sounded, he really did act like a know-it-all. At least with the older version he would listen to what she had to say and then ask questions if there was any need too.

She didn't know what his reaction would be when he got to the parts in her quotebook that would certainty pique his interest. Though after imagining his reaction, she decided that it was best to enjoy the peace while she had it and not hurt her head over it.

Though unfortunately, she spoke too soon. Suddenly, he closed the book and jumped off the stretcher holding his own body. She looked up at him, confused.

"Something wrong?" She asked, he was looking at her coldly.

"Why is it that my grandfather cannot tell me these things?" He questioned.

He was standing now, her book in one hand, perfect posture, chin held up high. Prior to receiving her quotebook, his grandfather had been unable to speak. Although he knew the answers, he was avoiding them, enough for Byakuya to soon find out that the older version of him had no idea of her identity as an Okasake clan member. The thought infuriated him to no ends and now, with his surprisingly secretive grandfather, he was forced to read through a book which belonged to a woman he did not know. A stranger...but also his sister.

Rukia, who was crouched down, continued to search through boxes of books while she spoke. "It's difficult."

"Why?" He was back to the quick interview again. Why was his grandfather keeping secrets from him with this woman? He barely even knew her and this applied to the older version of himself as well.

"He didn't want you to know about the assassins. It was his wish to keep it a secret from you and have you solely live as a soul reaper." She tried to explain, her voice low.

"Why?" And yet even as a stranger, she knew this much. Enough for his grandfather to trust her in spite of how fond of lying she seemed to be.

"Surely you know your grandfather, Byakuya. He wouldn't do those things without reason." She pushed another box away and brought back another.

"I presume you know his reasoning." His arms were crossed now, waiting for her answer. If she wanted to answer truthfully she'd say kinda however, just like the Captain, she still refused to let it all go at once. With her head down, she did not look at him.

"No." Rukia responded, going through another pile.

"That is a lie." He accused, Rukia wasn't fazed. Although the younger Byakuya's interrogation sessions were entertaining, they weren't enough to make her spill the truth. He'd have to read and understand himself.

"I really don't know." Rukia mumbled. "You really shouldn't pressure the Captain about it. I already told you, it's difficult for him."

"Why?" Why did she know so much about his grandfather? Why did she speak so comfortably?

"Reasons, Byakuya." And suddenly she was reminded of the moment when she had first met Okasake Jushirmai after 17 months in the Seireitei and had asked him what he wanted with her, being completely oblivious as to who he was at the time, and his answer had been that. Reasons.

"I do not trust you." He stated yet again.

Rukia looked up, she didn't intend on intimidating him however, he seemed a bit taken aback by her tone. "I never asked you too."

I asked you to not doubt my sincerity, Rukia reminded mentally. He was now mad at her, that much she understood. He had found out shortly after that the older version of him didn't even know that she was a member of the Okasake clan. To make matters worse, he found out that she didn't even tell the older version of her knowing his grandfather. Though, she wished he remembered what she said. In spite of it all, she didn't want him to doubt her sincerity.

"The point is…" her tone was a lot softer this time. She didn't mean to come off as harsh as she did. "The Captain is going through a lot right now, he won't say it 'cause he's well... the Captain but you finding out about this is something he never planned or wanted, I barely managed to convince him to tell you the truth."

Byakuya crouched down. "What do you mean?"

Rukia didn't respond.

"Were you the one that con—" Rukia stopped him right there.

"I didn't mean it like that, Byakuya. I just asked him once, sincerely and it managed to work." Rukia rushed to say before resuming her book hunt.

"Really?" He questioned, trying to catch her eyes. Surely she was lying.

She looked up, having finally found the book the Captain had wanted. "Really. Here, it's a book about the Okasake and Kuchiki family relations. Captain Kuchiki wanted me to give it to you to read."

He accepted the book but stayed in his position, watching her until she packed everything up in complete and utter silence.

---

"Grandfather?" The younger Byakuya called, he was now standing beside him, looking up at him. "Did...Did that spy woman convince you to tell me about the Okasake clan?"

Ginrei was surprised she would have mentioned it, given how she was trying to distance herself from any responsibility.

"Up until now, I had not wanted you to know of the relationship between our clan and the assassins. It was my wish to keep it secret however, she convinced me otherwise."

The younger Byakuya was surprised. He still did not trust her, although she had been honest about helping him. "Really? She talked to you once and you agreed?"

"She has been asking me to tell you the truth ever since I returned to the living."

The younger Byakuya's eyes popped wide for a second before returning to normal. She was back to her lying again. "Really? She...asked you that many times?"

Ginrei nodded once again. Given how short his temper was, the younger Byakuya suddenly clenched his right fist.

"Is lying their personality trait?" The younger Byakuya questioned in disbelief. Surely this couldn't be normal. He had only known them for about an hour and he had been lied to over a hundred times from both the younger and older version of the spy. Even the most simplest questions did not have a completely true response.

Ginrei closed his eyes. "I'm afraid it has become their defense mechanism to avoid speaking the truth."

The younger Byakuya took note of how his grandfather's aura changed the moment he asked. "They have suffered greatly in their past, Byakuya. To avoid speaking about it, it has become natural for them to do so. Part of which, I bear some responsibility for."

The younger Byakuya blinked curiously. "Responsibility?"

Why would he be responsible for anything bad happening to her?

He closed his eyes. "Yes. That being said, be patient with them, my boy. The past is not an easy thing for them to discuss. There's a reason she tried to run away."

The younger Byakuya stayed silent for a few seconds. He had only been in the future for a little over an hour and he was stuck with two people who were the same person, both who had some type of connection to him but could not stop lying to him. That woman who was nursing his older version's body seemed like a spy; however, she had worked so hard to convince his grandfather to tell him the truth for whatever reason. His grandfather was also trying to convince him that they meant no harm and were 'friends' of his. "Are you sure we can trust them?"

"Yes." Ginrei opened his eyes. "As odd as it might sound, their lying might make you deem them untrustworthy however, the more I think of it, it seems that in truth, they've been your ally all along."

Byakuya didn't understand. His grandfather was protecting and siding with two people—or rather, one person—he did not know for some reason. He knew a great deal of their past and intended that he had known them for awhile. It was clear as water that his relationship with this so-called Okasake clan member was very personal, the way they spoke to each other was enough to confirm that he was telling the truth however, how could his grandfather have met someone like her? It just didn't make sense.

Ginrei turned around. "Keep an open mind, my boy." His grandfather said as he walked away. Byakuya kept his eyes on him as he moved. "They're not against you in any way."

Both Byakuyas stared.

---

"You fool." Rukia chided, words directed to Ichigo who was laying on the stretcher beside her.

"I'm the fool?!" Ichigo asked, sitting right in front of her. You know Byakuya's grandfather, Rukia! AND you hid that from him AND ME on top of hiding the fact that you're kinda-sorta a member of the Okasake clan and I'm the fool? There was a cabinet beside her, one that Ichigo's Interioreum body was sort of sitting on with Kon still on his shoulder. He watched her as she stared at his unconscious body. She had a lot on her mind, he could tell.

Rukia couldn't help but want to clear out some of her thoughts. With everyone away and the younger Byakuya finally asleep, it was the perfect time to say it out loud. Even if he couldn't hear her, it would be nice to let some things go. "You came all the way to the Soul Society to help and here you are..."

"Thinking back to when we first met, you've become stronger...a lot stronger. To think things would get this far is beyond me. To think that you probably were confused but defended me throughout it all makes me feel sad. Even when I couldn't speak of anything, you stood by my side and even now when you can't speak to me or hear me, you're still here."

"I'm always here, Rukia. I'll always be here, you don't have to worry about that." Ichigo said to her, knowing that she couldn't hear him though, he still wanted to say it out loud. The Gotei 13 were elsewhere, sitting next to their bodies. This was his chance to talk to her alone to hear her thoughts while everyone was distracted.

"It's funny that I imagined I could do this without you being involved. I had tried my best to avoid it but somehow, you ended up being beside me again."

"You wouldn't hide all this stuff intentionally or disappear like that without reason." Ichigo responded. "Even if you do know Byakuya's grandfather and even if you are kinda-sorta a member of the Okasake clan, I know you at heart. It's crazy that you managed to hide all this without anyone knowing. I'm not going anywhere."

"Now that I think about it, you probably defended me with your whole chest when everyone was against me. Even when I wasn't being wholly honest with you, you gave me time to say the truth. I still remember what you said, that you'd wait until I'm ready to speak and now we're here." She paused for a while, losing track of what exactly she was trying to say. "I just wanted you to know that, the reason I didn't tell you about this, even if I knew I always could, isn't 'cause of you, Ichigo. I could always speak freely to you and let you know anything you asked, I never intended to hide anything for the sake of not wanting you to know I just..." she paused again. "...everything about this was something I hid away in my past. I didn't want to speak of it or acknowledge it or else, the guilt would come back. Everything that I felt then would return and even if I was just telling it to you as a story, I couldn't face it. The truth is, my past is just too complicated for that. I've done some bad things, gone through some bad things, and I suffered a lot with those thoughts for a while. So much that I thought my existence in this world meant nothing."

Ichigo stared at her, her eyes weren't hiding anything anymore. She had been through a lot of pain—too much. He could see how much she was fighting to not share anything with her face but her eyes were enough. He knew she would never do something like this without reason. Her past was something that pained her and it was hard for her to revisit it without feeling the same type of sadness—that much he understood. He didn't want to imagine what it must've been like for her to suffer alone with those thoughts. It must've been hell for her, the Gotei 13 didn't have a right to be upset with her.

"The Okasake clan...the assassins...my life in general is just something I wanted to keep to myself. I wanted to pretend it didn't exist and move forward with whatever motivation I had left to continue." She then reached out to touch his hand. "I didn't hide this from you 'cause I didn't trust you...I could never. It's as you said, we're connected, right?"

She smiled softly, remembering when he had said those very words to her. And he was right, time and time again they proved how connected they were by destiny. It made her wonder how they would've met if things in the past had gone differently. What scenario would've possibly played out that would result in them meeting if things went differently? Would he be saving her first or would it be the other way around?

"We sure are." He responded, smiling back. "Which is why I'll wait until you're ready to tell me, everything."

"If you were here right now, if you saw me like this, I wonder what you would be thinking." She said. "I was once offered to be a member of the Okasake clan, by choice, 'cause I shared a close relationship with Sensei Okasake although I ran away from it. I guess I was too scared of it all and I just...didn't wish to be formally adopted. The younger Byakuya asking the younger me why I refused had me thinking about it again. Sensei Okasake was someone very close to me, just like Captain Kuchiki—although, different—he had offered me a home early on in my life. That home was very warm and it had people who I liked and could live with and yet...I said no."

Ichigo bit his bottom lip. He wouldn't lie, he was a bit confused as well. Rukia seemed to like the Okasake clan a lot and they did treat her really well. She could've lived a life out of the slum of the Rukongai but instead, she chose to stay there. They weren't my blood, the words of the younger Rukia came to mind. Was it really blood that she was worried about? At the time, she wouldn't have remembered her siblings, the chances of her finding any blood-related family members were highly unlikely. He didn't think those thoughts would come to mind, but they did. The younger Rukia seemed honest in her response that she declined 'cause they weren't her blood however, the Kuchiki clan weren't her blood either and she had accepted that—why? It couldn't have anything to do with Byakuya's grandfather 'cause clearly in spite of her relationships with them, it didn't change her mind.

"To think that I denied myself that opportunity and somehow ended up in the Kuchiki clan got me thinking how weird life can be sometimes."

She struggled to smile this time. "I met….Captain Kuchiki when I was small. Around that time, I had probably lived six years in the Rukongai and the chances of meeting a noble of all people in my district especially was rare. There was nothing to see or so I thought. Everyone knew about the assassins there however, the world that sheatsu allowed you to live in—separating those with and without it—made it difficult to spot a lot of them with a clean eye. By the time I met Captain, I had already become friends with Renji and Raiden."

Ichigo listened carefully, watching how her eyes suddenly lit up as she continued. "On that day, they had gone out to help some storekeeper in exchange for some money. I was left alone so I wandered off and did my own things. There was this really pretty field nearby, it had so many flowers—I remember picking a bunch to make some kind of bouquet when suddenly some wild wolves appeared and caught me off guard. I remember running as quickly as possible. I barely managed to run away before someone had saved me. It turned out to be Captain Kuchiki, he was on his way to a meeting at the 78th District assassin-base. Ever since then, I've known him. Long story short, our interactions didn't end there and the rest is history."

She was smiling a lot now. He could tell Captain Kuchiki was also someone she liked a lot and it was clear they were pretty close. Although he did have questions about Captain Kuchiki's involvement during her execution, her telling him happily about how she met him got him wondering what life would've been like for Rukia if he was still alive around the time she got adopted. She probably wouldn't have lived as lonely there, she'd have someone who would welcome her and like her. The more he thought of it, it was sort of sad that he had passed away a few months after Rukia's sister di...he paused.

If….Captain Kuchiki knew Rukia since she was a little kid and remained in contact with her ever since, why didn't Rukia's sister meet her sooner?

---

End Note

Images For This Chapter

— Cuirass (Everything is black though, there's no silver plates like the ones shown in this picture)

byaruki / tumblr