Pre-Note
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. This is for creative purposes. I do own this plot.
There are Images For This Chapter.
Rid Emotions
"I understand, grandfather." Byakuya said while closing the book Rukia had given him. He was sitting on the chair next to his present body as his grandfather approached him with crossed arms. "It all makes sense."
"You met that spy woman through the Okasake clan, that's why you let them speak so comfortably to you. I'm now well aware of our clan's history with the Okasake clan. Sensei Okasake is your friend and that spy woman happens to be his granddaughter although she isn't known officially to be. That being said, you would've met them through him and become acquainted with them because they were your friend's granddaughter, correct? Although they are a peasant, it makes sense as to why you would know them fairly well given our clan's relationship."
A few moments of silence went by as Byakuya looked up at his grandfather for confirmation. The assumption Byakuya had made was far from true. Ginrei had met them separately in the Rukongai before any of this began. Knowing his grandson at this age, if he told them that, his perception of Rukia would not get better however, he had to tell the truth. After all, that was the reason he even tried to complete a project which could potentially mess with time. He closed his eyes.
"I did not meet her through Hirosuke." Ginrei calmly said before reopening his eyes. "I met her long before in the Rukongai."
He emphasized his 'blink' to showcase his confusion. "What?"
The Interioreum Byakuya who stood on the other side of the stretcher looked to his grandfather. He was confused as well, though unlike his younger self he did not show it.
"I knew my dear before Hirosuke ever did. I met her in the Rukongai long before they even met." Ginrei informed slowly. The younger and older Byakuya did not understand.
"But...grandfather, how could you have met that spy woman in the Rukongai?" The younger Byakuya could not follow along.
His grandfather knowing them through the Okasake clan made sense! He had come to understand what their family relations were like so naturally he concluded that to be the reasoning his grandfather was quite familiar with them however, him telling him otherwise was unnerving. Who exactly were these people?
"It does not make sense. Did you introduce them to the Okasake clan then?"
"No." Ginrei simply responded. "They met on their own circumstances. I did not know at the time."
Byakuya did not believe this.
It was very clear to him that the spy and her younger counterpart could not be trusted. Their story was ridiculous and rather faulty. How could a person like them, who did not have anything to offer, have met not one but three nobles all belonging to prestigious clans and more importantly end up in his clan decades later? He did not believe in chance, this was no coincidence.
If what his grandfather was saying was true, that would imply that they met his grandfather separately, then the Okasake clan separately, and then himself decades later on a separate occasion. There was no such thing as chance which could result in this type of occurrence. They clearly had some intention, though he did not know what. He concluded that it must've been deliberately planned, there was no way that this woman could've been as lucky to meet his grandfather then the Okasake twins, and then himself all while having nothing to offer but a pretty face.
They were liars.
"They are a spy." Byakuya concluded, he looked to his present body on the stretcher. "We have been living with a spy. That woman obviously had other intentions."
"They are harmless." Byakuya looked back at his grandfather. "Keep an open mind. She is not a spy."
"Grandfather, forgive me however, how do you know that for sure? If what you're saying is true, that means that they met all three of us on separate occasions by chance and were lucky enough to maintain such relationships with nobles all while being a peasant. It does not make sense."
Why was he protecting them? Why was he so sure of them? It was very obvious that they were liars. The present him had been living with a liar, a woman he did not know for sure. "Clearly they had other intentions. This must've been a scheme."
"It is not."
Byakuya did not know why but the recurring defending of a woman he did not know coming from his grandfather specifically bothered him to no ends.
"They might've met you intentionally so that you could favor them and treat them well. They must've been upset you didn't offer them a chance to be adopted so they went after another noble clan. Though, the fact that they ended up in ours irks me. It is clear to me that they are not only liars but they are good manipulators. They know very well what they're doing."
"No, Byakuya." His voice was cold. "They are not those kind of people."
Byakuya looked to his grandfather, expressing his confusion and hostility through his eyes. He did not think his grandfather was a man who could be easily manipulated, he was very intelligent and analytical. Surely, he would never put himself in that position however, that woman...he was defending her so easily, it made Byakuya wonder why he wasn't questioning how she could've met him, then them and then him decades later? This could not be based on chance.
"But—"
"They are good people." Ginrei was trying to get through to him though it was clear that it was going to take awhile. "They did not enter our clan with an intention to deceive, they did not meet Hirosuke with the intention to receive, nor did they meet me for either one of those reasons, Byakuya."
Ridiculous, both them and now his grandfather were being ridiculous.
"But how do we know that? They are clearly very talented liars, if they managed to hide this from the Gotei 13 and me, surely they are capable of doing more. They must've pretended to be vulnerable and approached you to receive the things they desired." His grandfather was not easily manipulated though, these two people….they were clearly very good at what they did. There was an intention, his grandfather was just too far gone into their tricks. He grudgingly did not want to admit that perhaps the older him had fallen for their tricks as well. They just did it so perfectly that everyone else failed to notice.
Byakuya did not expect his grandfather to address him in such a harsh tone however, his next words clearly showed his disapproval with what he had said. "No, Byakuya."
Ginrei turned around, "you are wrong." He began to walk. "You will see why Hirosuke and myself took a liking to her. Perhaps you will realize why that happened to your present self as well."
Byakuya just watched him go.
"Grandfather has been bewitched." The younger Byakuya said to his present body although he knew he couldn't hear him. "I did not ever think something like this could occur however, he is defending them like they are his own."
He crossed his arms. "It is clear to me that they must've accepted our offer with a different intention. It is too much of a coincidence for it to be true."
Looking away, his eyes fell upon the younger version of the spy woman who was helping her younger brother. "Ridiculous. The fact that she managed to sneak into our clan with double-sided intentions is disappointing however, she came to us when our defenses were low. I am sure they must have planned this."
He then looked to the older version. "She lied to us. She hid the fact that she was an Okasake clan member, she hid the fact that she knew grandfather all along, she hid the fact that she has a younger biological brother, who knows what else she is hiding. The fact that we even accepted her into our clan and have her there as our sister out of all things is irritating."
He huffed and turned to his body yet again. "I hope we did not come looking for her. Grandfather informed me that she ran away from the Gotei 13. I would not like to believe we cared enough to come looking for her and ended up like this."
The older Byakuya stared at his younger self in silence. Although he was not pleased with the younger version of himself being present, knowing his...behaviour, he could not deny that it was benefitting him more to have him stay. For one, he was asking the questions he wanted answers to the most. He did not understand and with his silent frustration, his younger self was releasing it all for him.
Noticing the ugly plushie which hopped past his body, the younger Byakuya took the opportunity to make a change. "You."
Ririn turned, visibly upset with the way he had addressed her. "Bring me the Gotei 13's medical files."
The plushie looked at him for a few seconds, clearly upset though she didn't voice anything. Suddenly, she huffed and jumped away to retrieve what he wanted.
Spoiled brat, Ririn thought in her head as she went to retrieve the medical binder and threw it back to him. "Next time, ask politely."
The younger Byakuya did not care for her words and watched her walk away. Opening the binder, he flipped through the pages to find his name.
Addressing his body, he spoke. "We must have someone who can monitor our body until we return. I do not trust that woman, she is a member of another clan. More importantly, she has lied to us already. She cannot be trusted with the task of caring for us while we're in this situation. It does not matter what grandfather says, she is a liar."
He began to aggressively flip past more pages as he grumbled to himself. "Surely we must have another immediate family member who can tend to us until we return. She might kill us with her injections. That might've been her intention all along."
More pages were turned. "She might've intended to gain our trust, knowing well that she entered our clan with our defenses down. And now that her identity is slowly being revealed, she is trying to convince us that she had no ill will towards us. Using grandfather, she is clearly trying to manipulate us. I cannot have such a being monitor our body while you are unaware of this."
Finally he landed on his name. Looking past the information with a small photo of him attached with a paperclip, he looked down to the heading 'EMERGENCY CONTACT'.
There was only one immediate family member listed.
The remaining rows left on the table were empty.
The name was: Kuchiki Rukia, in the row beside it under the title 'Relationship', she was listed as his Sister.
The Interioreum World Byakuya closed his eyes.
"Geez, can you believe we ended up in this shit?" Monkey asked, addressing her counterpart, Snake, Senbonzakura, and Sode No Shirayuki, the other zanpakutō spirits she was stuck with as they traveled.
"It is quite unsettling that we ended up separated from our wielders on such short notice." Sode No Shirayuki said, walking beside Senbonzakura. "I haven't been able to hear Rukia-sama's call….it worries me."
"Hey! Same here! Renji's probably cussing out our asses right now for not being able to transform." Snake said.
"How about you, Senbonzakura?" Monkey asked however, the spirit was lost in thought...feeling peculiar.
He had lost contact with his wielder shortly after he merged with Sode No Shirayuki and escaped the water. After that, he had not felt his wielder's presence ever since. He did not know what the reason was for their sudden disconnection however, he could not hear him at all. But now, he felt different. For some reason he was starting to feel connected again however, the version of his wielder he was becoming reconnected to was long gone or rather, had aged. He did not know how he could feel a connection with his wielder's younger self but not his present self. It was indeed very strange.
"Senbonzakura."
"Senbonzakura."
"Senbonzakura!" Snake tried to snap him out of his trance.
"Never mind, leave him Snake. He's clearly not in the mood." Monkey said as Sode No Shirayuki approached him.
"Is something wrong, Senbonzakura-dono?" He looked to her immediately, having snapped out of his daze.
"...No." He lied. "I am just...concerned for my master."
"If...you're feeling the same thing as me, I can feel it too." Sode No Shirayuki said, her voice barely above a whisper. "The younger version of your master...I can feel it too."
Senbonzakura stared at her in silence. "Why do you think we are feeling him rather than the present version? Are you perhaps feeling the younger version of your wielder as well?"
Sode No Shirayuki looked down. "No. I feel nothing from her, it's...really strange."
"Hmm, I can't sense anything from her either." Senbonzakura said, looking away from Sode No Shirayuki.
"What the hell are those two babbling about?" Snake asked in annoyance. "You can talk to us too ya know!"
"Huh?" They both said at the same time. "Oh, sorry."
"Great, now they're even talkin' at the same time too." Snake grumbled with his arms crossed. "Just 'cause you both are joint zanpakutōs, doesn't mean you gotta ignore us ya know. We're a zanpakutō too! And our wielders all know each other so quit it!"
"He's got a point, besides, the fact that you both even met to become joint zanpakutōs is still funny to me. Damn, Renji's gonna be disappointed with us." Monkey said with her arms behind her head, feeling exhausted.
"What do you mean?" Senbonzakura asked, turning to them. "Is there something wrong with my joining with Sode No Shirayuki?"
"Well, I mean, I get why Renji would be a bit upset. I mean he met her before you so." Snake said.
"Right." Monkey agreed. "And besides, it's not like your master started talking to her until like what? Two years ago? Sort of a shame don't cha think?"
Snake turned to Sode No Shirayuki. "Hey, Sode No Shirayuki? Why'd you choose him out of all zanpakutōs to merge with? Surely we've gotta stronger bond than that!"
"Well—"
"She recognized my competence and we were able to merge abilities because of it." Senbonzakura simply said with his back to them. "Perhaps if you focused on your abilities more, she would've met you first."
"WHAT WAS THAT?!" Snake said.
"Now, hey, don't go criticizing us, we met her first you idiot." Monkey reminded, he was quite irritable.
"While that might be true, our spirits were able to meet with each other in our inner world prior to our wielders even officially meeting with each other. If you were meant to join with Sode No Shirayuki, perhaps you would've met her first in her inner world." Senbonzakura responded.
"I'm not quite sure how it happened as well." Sode No Shirayuki explained. "At the time, Rukia-sama was quite young. She wasn't even training to be a soul reaper at the time and yet one day, our inner worlds opened up to see each other without reason. There I met Senbonzakura's spirit for the first time, although we did not quite know each other's appearance, if our wielders were close by, we'd see each other."
"Yes. That is how we met though, I did not hear from her in a while. Not until her wielder met my master." Senbonzakura explained, ahead of all three of them.
"Still, we deserved to be a part of this too! We should've met her too, Monkey! We would've been able to join abilities!" Snake enthusiastically said.
Monkey scoffed. "Not my fault Renji was training to be an assassin. My ass was more focused on following their fancy Judan stuff so we wouldn't fuck up when it was time. Though, find it kind of weird you were able to see Sode No Shirayuki when her wielder wasn't even trying to become a soul reaper."
"It was strange to me too." She admitted.
"Indeed." Senbonzakura said. "The inner world I shared with my master had opened up to another zanpakutō spirit of a person he did not know at the time. It was strange how he ended up meeting the person who wielded that spirit decades later."
"What typa crazy shit is that?" Monkey questioned in response. "Some typa psychic thing."
"Hey, Monkey? Do you think we could do something with Raiden then?"
"Arigawa Raiden is a quincy." Sode No Shirayuki stated.
"Still, Sode No Shirayuki! I mean, Renji and Raiden were super close, for sure we gotta be able to do something!"
"I wouldn't try it." Monkey dismissed. "Renji hasn't talked to Raiden in years. Are you forgetting what happened, you dumbass?"
Sode No Shirayuki looked down. Monkey caught her change in mood and rushed to apologize. "Eh….take it easy, Sode No Shirayuki. Didn't mean to bring it up."
She looked up. "It's alright."
Sode No Shirayuki stayed quiet for a while as she walked behind Senbonzakura. Senbonzakura could sense that she was still wondering about it, having joint with her, he had a pretty clear sense of her and his 2nd wielder's mood.
They were not the first zanpakutōs to join abilities, for sure there were many more however, to have those abilities surface, their wielders would have to recognize it themselves. Their wielders for a fact were yet to recognize it. Until then, they could not use those abilities during battle, it had been a decision between life or death for them to surface without command. Earlier when his 2nd wielder was in trouble, instinctively he and Sode No Shirayuki had merged to protect her with white sakura petals (AN: First Encounter). Later on, when his wielder was in trouble, Sode No Shirayuki joined hands once again (AN: It was Staged) to ensure he was okay. Although they could not continue to do that for long. In order for their powers to be effective, their wielders needed to recognize the connection themselves; however, their wielders were still at their early stages. Neither would be able to sense it, that much Senbonzakura knew. Until then, he and Sode No Shirayuki would have to work carefully. They could not give out any more hints.
It was up to them.
Approaching a new opening, Senbonzakura confidently led the three into the light, he was following the presence of his master — the younger version he could not detach himself from. He was sure if he found this master, he would be able to understand everything that was going on from the time he had lost his connection.
He would not move.
He did not care for her looks of sincerity or what not, he would not let her be close to his body.
He did not trust her, it was only the curse of his own bad luck why he ended up with only one immediate family member left. He did not care for her check ups or her sudden need to be next to his body as if she was sitting that close to him all along. She was better off tending to other people, though he did not know why she was nurturing some human with the oddest hair colour he had ever seen.
To make matters worse, the body she was tending too was placed closely next to his stretcher. The space between them was a decently large amount given that it could fit two chairs, the monitors, and a cabinet; however, it was not enough. He did not wish to be near the woman though he was reading her book to figure everything else out.
It did not help that instead of sitting on the other side of the stretcher so that she was even further away from him, she chose to sit on the side that was closest to his stretcher.
A nuisance was what she was. Nothing more but a nuisance.
He truly could not believe his luck.
With his head buried into the book, he told himself to read faster so that he could rid himself of the woman's journal and disinfect his hands. It did not matter how good she smelt. She was a liar and although she may have asked his grandfather to tell him the truth, it did not change the fact she did what she did.
With small glances, he confirmed that she was quite distracted. Reading through something with her one hand, he didn't even want to know what happened to the other one. With her hair covering her face, he took some time to look.
She was pretty and smelt nice, those were her only two characteristics.
He did not see anything else beyond that, why would two noble clans want her? So much that his grandfather befriended her, one Okasake wanted to adopt her, the other Okasake wanted her to marry his son, the Okasake heir wanted her for unknown reasons, all for his older self to adopt her for the sake of a promise.
She was an average being. There were thousands of kids in the Rukongai, thousands, how could she single herself out from the rest to end up being so wanted? He just couldn't see what they saw. To make matters worse, he just had to, out of all the women in the world, marry her sister. He truthfully did not know what he did to be so cursed.
Looking back to her book, he read through her images and words carefully. Without drawing much attention to himself, he brought the pages to his nose...it seemed to share the same scent as her...he cursed himself for liking it so much as well. Little did he know, she caught him doing it and now he had to explain why he was doing so.
"What are you doing?" He heard her voice and he knew it was directed at him. He should've been more careful. Turning to face her, he nonchalantly tried to shrug it off as if it was nothing.
"What?" He asked.
She raised her left brow in confusion. "Um...are you smelling the pages?"
"Don't be ridiculous." He scolded. "Why would I, a member of the Kuchiki clan, smell some random peasant's book?"
"Um...well, you were doing it just now..?"
"Nonsense. What reason would I have other than the fact that I was ensuring it was not dirty to do so?" He questioned.
"So...you were smelling it." Rukia said though Byakuya said nothing in response. "My book isn't dirty, Byakuya. It's fine, don't worry."
"Just because you doused your fragrance onto the pages, it does not mean it is clean." Rukia raised her left brow again. He made a sound but she didn't know what he was trying to say or if he just made a sound to substitute a response.
The Interioreum World Byakuya wanted him to stop talking immediately. It was useless chatter, he did not know why the younger version of himself had to put him in this position. He should be focusing on understanding so that inevitably he could make sense of everything he had been kept from. If made possible, he wished to find a route to communicate with him. Things could not move this slowly.
The younger Byakuya turned around though he could feel her stare on him. He wished to tell her to look away however, she had already caught him smelling her book. Any more eye contact and he was afraid his body would do something it usually did during these situations….heat up.
"Dutchman pipe cactus." She suddenly said. His body reacted before his mind could make a decision to turn. He was now looking at her, puzzled by the flower name she had called. "That's the scent. It's...a really fragrant flower."
Byakuya turned around, slightly...dare-he-say the word 'embarrassed'. The Interioreum World Byakuya concluded that he would erase her memory of this moment before his thoughts were interrupted by his zanpakutō.
"Senbonzakura? Sode No Shirayuki? Zabimaru?" Rukia listed out as the manifested spirits appeared in front of her. They all filled up the space in between the stretchers now.
The younger Byakuya blinked in turbulence before recognizing his own zanpakutō. "You are…?"
He introduced himself to his young master. "Your instinct is correct, master. I am Senbonzakura, your zanpakutō."
He had been right. The younger version of his master, although he did not know how, was here. It was less fortunate to find the present version lying down unconscious. Clearly, there was a lot of explaining to do. With that, he turned to his 2nd wielder, although she did not know it yet, to ask. "Rukia-sama, may you explain the situation?"
It did not take long for the younger Byakuya to become quite displeased with his zanpakutō. "Why do you address her that way? Do you know what she has done?"
Rukia sighed. "Byakuya….please."
She understood that he was angry, so much that he didn't wish for her to even touch his older self however, given the situation, this wasn't the time for his behaviour. She could tell Senbonzakura was rather baffled by his master's reaction, it made her wonder what he would do if he found out that Senbonzakura had been keeping some secrets too. It was evident that moving forward, the younger Byakuya would do everything he could to separate her from anything involving his present version although she wished he would not behave like that. Senbonzakura bowed and apologized. "Forgive me, I just wanted her to inform us of the situation."
"Do not trust her moving forward." The younger Byakuya ordered with his arms crossed. "She is a liar and will most likely lie to you about our situation. You're better off waiting for grandfather."
"I am here." A gruff voice said behind the spirit, belonging to his grandfather.
"O-Oh, sir." Senbonzakura immediately said before kneeling.
Sode No Shirayuki bowed, greeting him next to Rukia.
He addressed Byakuya. "What is it?"
"My zanpakutō wants an honest," and he made sure to emphasize the word 'honest' so that the woman behind him could hear. "...account of our situation."
Ginrei glanced over at Rukia who's eyes told him that he was still very displeased with her. In defeat, he began to explain to the zanpakutō spirit what had occurred following his last memory though, the spirit which had been eager to know suddenly became distant. The throaty voice of his wielder's grandfather began to disappear as his eyes caught sight of the enemy. Suddenly walking past him, his katana appeared in his hand and was faced downwards. Before anyone could process what was happening, the spirit called out—
"Bankai."
Rukia's eyes slightly widened, distress all over her expression and voice. "Please don't tell me...he just said..."
Kisuke, the Bounts, Raiden, and Yūshirō all spoke with her as they looked. "...bankai?!"
"Hey—Byakuya, what the hell?!" Ichigo yelled at the Interioreum World version, although he knew he couldn't and technically didn't do anything.
The familiar flash of millions and millions of pink cherry blossoms were suddenly released. In a quick action, Ginrei spoke to avoid the cherry blossoms coming towards them. "Bakudō #81: Dankū"
Combining the defensive wall with his sheatsu, it glowed a mint green shade as the wall protected them from the millions of cherry blossoms which moved around. Eventually, Senbonzakura retracted the cherry blossoms having defeated the enemy. With his blades back into his sword form, he attempted to turn around however, two kicks sent him down pretty quickly. It belonged to Zabimaru.
"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU, YOU IDIOT?! YOU ALMOST INJURED THE DAMN BODIES LYING HERE?!" Monkey yelled with Snake by his side.
Snake continued the scolding. "YEAH! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT THE HELL WOULD'VE HAPPENED TO THEM IF THAT OLD MAN DIDN'T PUT UP THAT BARRIER IN TIME?! YOU BARELY MANAGED TO CONTROL YOUR OWN BLADES, GODDAMMIT!"
"WHY THE HELL DID YOU EVEN DO THAT?!" Monkey questioned as Senbonzakura calmly stepped away and spoke.
"I did it to defeat the enemy."
"WHAT ENEMY?!" Zabimaru asked.
Senbonzakura pointed at the tiny black pieces on the ground. "That enemy."
Zabimaru looked closely to see what in the world the tiny black pieces had been before Senbonzakura cut it up to pieces. Puzzling it together, they concluded that the so-called 'enemy' was a fucking—"A SPIDER?!"
Allowing his sword to disappear, he spoke. "Sode No Shirayuki does not like spiders."
The zanpakutō spirit beside Rukia smiled in response and bowed. "Thank you, Senbonzakura-dono."
Rukia silently thanked the zanpakutō spirit although the method he used was slightly, actually completely, over excessive.
"You idiot!" Monkey yelled. "YOU COULD'VE SQUASHED THE THING WITH YOUR FOOT! WHY THE HELL DID YOU HAVE TO DO ALL THAT?!"
The younger Byakuya who was watching the scene unfold looked to the zanpakutō spirit allegedly named Sode No Shirayuki. It didn't take him long to connect the dots, Sode No Shirayuki was that woman's zanpakutō. "Why did you help them?"
"Even your wielder thinks you're crazy!" Snake said while jumping up and down.
Senbonzakura tried to justify his actions. "W-Well I—"
"Do not aid them in the future." He commanded. "They are fine on their own."
Ginrei looked down at him. "Your zanpakutō spirit was just following the intuition of what your present self would do in a situation where it was needed."
"Very well however, that instinctive behavior will not be needed in the future." Byakuya said, still addressing Senbonzakura. He then looked to Sode No Shirayuki who was standing beside Rukia. "Sever your dare-I-call-it 'friendship' with that zanpakutō. It is not needed."
Rukia slouched her shoulders. "Byakuya—"
He cut her off. "Your opinion does not matter. That is my zanpakutō spirit and as its wielder, I do not wish for it to share interactions with a spirit which belongs to a liar."
He was annoyed. Even their zanpakutō spirits were well-acquainted with each other. All while she was lying about her identity the whole time and the older him had little to no idea who this woman was. It did not help that she was so involved in his life. It was bothersome to say the least.
"Hey, don't you think he's being a bit too harsh, Byakuya?" Ichigo wasn't sure he was going to get a response but he tried anyway. "I get it he's upset but I mean, he can't really be trying to stop your zanpakutō spirit from talking to Rukia's."
"That aside, Kurosaki. We need to focus on the fact that both Kuchikis and Abarai's zanpakutō spirits were left to roam. That means that the reason Abarai wasn't able to summon his zanpakutō is because his spirit got out again. And by the looks of it, neither one of them knew why it happened." Tōshirō said beside him.
"Think it's got anything to do with this Interioreum World thing?" Lieutenant Hisagi asked Captain Kurotsuchi.
"I'd have to run some experiments but it is safe to say they might've been severed from us temporarily when we entered this world into their manifested forms. Though Lieutenant Abarai's and Lieutenant Kuchiki's zanpakutō forms coming out as their manifested forms is not something I can explain as of now." Captain Kurotsuchi explained. "It can't have anything to do with the fact that he released his sheatsu, assassin-shinigami types do exist. Perchance there is another reason we are yet to discover."
"That aside, Ichigo, Lieutenant Kuchiki is afraid of...spiders?" Lieutenant Kira asked.
Ichigo turned around to face him with Kon. "Yeah, why?"
"Isn't that sort of odd…?" Ichigo didn't know what he was getting at.
"...Well I mean...didn't her old hair kinda resemble a sp…" Lieutenant Kira was about to continue however, the right eye of the 6th Division Captain staring at him told him to stop talking. "...Uh, never mind."
"I see. It is quite unfortunate that we must sever ways like this however, following my master wishes are my primary concern." Senbonzakura said to the two, addressing Rukia who had been informing him as to why Byakuya was suddenly very resentful towards her and her zanpakutō spirit.
"It's alright, I understand, Senbonzakura-dono." Sode No Shirayuki said, slightly bowing. "Your wielder is at a place of discomfort right now. He is justified in his behavior towards Rukia-sama and I. Do not feel like you owe me an apology. We will be fine."
"She's right. I would like to think that things will get better however, given the Captain's decision to tell the present Byakuya the truth, I'm afraid it might be awhile until things are...resolved." Rukia said. Although she was sure that Byakuya's present version would not be as hostile towards their zanpakutō spirits interacting, the younger Byakuya was quite different. It was clear that he didn't even like the sight of her, it was like she was reliving the initial 50 years she had spent with the older version all over again. Only this time, it was much worse.
"If it is possible, I will attempt to convince my master into allowing you to monitor my present master's body. I'm sure it would be better that way."
Rukia shook her head. "No, it's fine. He already feels like the Captain is somewhat against him because he tends to defend me. You're his zanpakutō spirit, you know him at heart, the last thing I want is for him to be angry at you too."
"I understand." Senbonzakura said before he slightly bowed. "If things are to settle down in the future, I hope we may interact again, Sode No Shirayuki."
"I do as well, Senbonzakura-dono although, it is not like we won't see each other. We are still here and naturally will stay close to our fellow zanpakutō spirit, Zabimaru." Sode No Shirayuki said with a soft smile.
"Oh, now they remember us." Snake said, showing up at the end of Ichigo's stretcher.
"Why's he so angry anyway?" Monkey grumbled from behind him. "I mean, our wielders are all good with each other. Don't see why he'd be so angry at you."
"My master is right in his behavior." Senbonzakura defended. "Although I do not feel anger towards Rukia-sama, my master and I do not like those who lie. My master feels deceived as he should feel."
"Wait, what the hell you hidin' from him again?" Monkey asked Rukia though Sode No Shirayuki spoke for her.
"Many things to say the least. That is why we understand his decision."
"Having lost connection with my present master, I will have to follow the younger version of my master's emotions in the meanwhile. He believes Rukia-sama has intentionally deceived him. From being a member of the Okasake clan to having a biological brother to knowing his predecessor, as his zanpakutō spirit I understand his frustration."
"Well, on the bright side, he ain't mad at us even though Renji was the one who helped revise the Com—" Monkey cut him off by hitting his head.
"Shut up, you idiot!" Monkey yelled, though the words of Snake did not go unnoticed. Rukia covered her face with her only hand while Sode No Shirayuki looked away.
They stayed silent for a moment.
Captain Ukitake and Captain Kyōraku glanced at each other once, feeling a sense of uneasiness yet again. Jūshiro knew he would have to explain the Common Kuchiki Law to Byakuya eventually. Although it had been mentioned a few times, to his knowledge, Byakuya was not made aware of the law which prevented him from knowing anything. Both him and Kyōraku had already broken it by having him exposed to such information, though it could not be helped.
To make matters worse, Lieutenant Abarai may have had some involvement in it too. Byakuya was already going through way too much as of now, Jūshiro didn't know how to mention it.
"I would not like to know." Senbonzakura suddenly said.
"Huh?" Zabimaru said.
Rukia and Sode No Shirayuki looked up at him.
"I would not like to know whether you have deceived me or not. I would prefer if we did not mention it." He said as he began to walk away from the stretchers.
"Wait a minute, Senbonzakura!" Snake called after him. "We didn't deceive you! What we meant was that Renji—"
"Give it up." Monkey cut him off yet again in a low tone. She looked at the back of Senbonzakura as he walked away. "Pretty sure he's just following his master's emotions as of now. The present one I guess."
Everyone was asleep.
Everyone but her and Roger. Aside from Raiden and the Captain who had gone for a walk. This was her chance to escape. To talk to Jushirmai in person given the fact that Kla was yet to return.
It would be hard to explain to just anyone what kind of relationship she shared with Jushirmai. There were a lot of things she could not admit too, though she knew one thing for a fact.
She did not love Okasake Jushirmai. Never once did those feelings ever surface in spite of how present he had been in her life.
His obsession was beyond the cliché unrequited love that everyone seemed to put it into. For some reason, there was some type of connection they shared which she could not put into words. In spite of her hatred, she was well aware that there was something else there...that is why she had protected him before.
He never left her once he found her. His sheatsu presence was there (AN: She Never Turned: Interference). It was always there, lurking behind her. For the life of her, it would not set her free. By now it was natural, he was so a part of her life that once she cut herself off for those glorious 17 months, coming back was hard.
The past 17 months had been a dream. One she would like to relive, having finally felt that freedom. At first she had been careful although, once she let go, there was so much warmth which followed with her living life. She had come to the conclusion that the past 50 years prior to meeting Ichigo were worse than her time in the Rukongai. Though these 17 months, these wonderful 17 months changed a lot of things.
It made the 50 years feel like nothing more but a bad dream.
It was a shame that it had to end here.
To make matters worse, she had people who cared for her now.
In the past 50 years, she hadn't been well-acquainted with many. People rarely talked to her, not that she wanted to be talked with as much though, it would be nice if people remembered she was there. Her brother never looked at her nor acknowledged her at all, they lived quietly in that manor through their own pain, leaving her to feel more empty than she did prior to accepting their offer. Kaien, who was perhaps the only person who treated her with warmth among her subordinates, left her too soon creating yet another hole in her heart. Captain Ukitake being the only person there for her was someone she could speak with however, her untrusting heart refused to let anything go. Renji didn't speak with her either, the only friend who knew of what she had left behind.
She had no one. Not a single person by her side. So much that she couldn't help but feel lonely.
She suffered with her human memories when they resurfaced, she suffered with the thoughts of her past, and suffered knowing that she had left someone who cared for her so deeply on the other side. A person who was not that far away but she could not meet.
She was alone. Perhaps she would die of her loneliness.
Then it would be easier to come back and finish what she had left behind. She had no attachments to the Gotei 13 then. She had no friends nor did she really have anyone to confide to. It would've been easier to leave, it wouldn't matter to anybody if she slipped away. Perchance, fake her own death if it was needed. Though that was then, this was now.
Now….everything was quite different. Now it was harder.
She was putting relationships which mattered to her at risk for everything she had concealed at heart.
Her hand now touched the quotebook on the younger Byakuya's lap. He had fallen asleep on the chair next to his present body, refusing to let her be alone with it.
Managing to pull out her quotebook from his lap, she moved the book to Ichigo's stretcher and opened it up there. She hated this. She hated when people touched her book. To read it was on a whole other level of trust. The guilt was truthfully eating her alive at this point. It made her feel vulnerable, a feeling she did not like to feel at all. Finding her pictures, she removed every single one of them and shoved them into her pocket.
She had a reason why she carried these photos. These were people she cared for and who, to varying degrees, cared about her too. Once her loneliness was made up for, she did not want to die alone. These pictures would keep them at her side no matter what were to happen (AN: Scattering Stars Like Dust). For that reason specifically, she took them out and kept them with her.
The truth was that death was always by her side. It had been ever since she met the Okasake heir. With it always present and no guarantee of coming back, she wanted them near.
Closing the book, she returned the book to his lap and moved away from the stretcher. Looking at Ichigo's body once again, she silently bid her farewell as she began to walk away.
"Hey—where's she going?" Ichigo asked, noticing that she was leaving.
"I'm not sure, she didn't mention anything to Urahara or the others either." Tōshirō said, watching her back.
"She's...creating something." Rangiku acknowledged as the Lieutenant walked and reached out her only hand which created a similar white portal Ginrei had entered with.
"Is it a senkaimon?" Lieutenant Hinamori asked.
They watched as the portal quickly created itself and she disappeared into it. Ichigo tried to run to it but it dissipated the moment she entered it. "What the hell?"
"She's probably going somewhere." Orihime said, turning to Ichigo.
"But where? The Soul Society?" Lieutenant Hisagi asked.
"Can't be the World of the Living, she would've used her brother's senkaimon." Lieutenant Kira said, referring to the large white cabinet located further away.
Ichigo turned to Uryū. "Ishida, what do you think?"
With his chin on his knuckles he spoke. "Hmm, I'm unsure as well. I doubt she'd want to return to the Soul Society unless she intends on meeting with the assassins who are stationed there in the meanwhile. Then again, Abarai wasn't too fond of returning with all the assassins there either, I don't believe Kuchiki-san would be ready to face them either."
"So then where the hell else is there left to go?" Ichigo asked, a question directed to particularly nobody.
"Kurosaki-kun, what if—" Orihime stopped herself, looking carefully into Ichigo's eyes with a very grim expression. She bit her bottom lip, realizing that she shouldn't say the rest.
Ichigo stared at her at a loss of words.
"It's actually really easy. You can monitor how well his body is doing through here." Jushirmai explained to the younger Rukia beside him.
With the older version gone, although neither knew the reason, the younger Rukia would have to be in charge of Ichigo's body. What she got from her older self was that this person was her very, very, close friend. With that thought in mind, she asked her younger brother to help her out in the meanwhile.
Though she didn't understand, she oddly felt something towards his body even without knowing who he was to her.
It was strange.
It felt something like the connection she shared with Okasake Jushirmai yet different. She didn't quite know how to put it into words she just knew.
He was someone special to her.
Dare she assume, someone more special to her than Renji and Raiden which said a lot.
While listening to her brother explain, the odd stares from the Kuchiki heir didn't go unnoticed.
She simply could not understand why, out of all clans, she ended up in the Kuchiki clan. Especially when the Okasake clan were there and waiting for her. It was clear to her that the Kuchiki heir was someone she could never see herself being acquainted with. They were very different people. Captain Kuchiki aside, his grandson was not someone she would ever feel the need to be acquainted with. It made her wonder, what in the world could've possibly happened for this to be her future?
The fact that the people here addressed her as 'Kuchiki-san' made her skin crawl. The fact that it was her identity now, that everyone knew her as Kuchiki Rukia made her uncomfortable. The thought of being a legitimate member of the Okasake clan had scared her so much. She knew her feelings then, she understood why she said no to them though she remained close with them but this? This made no sense to her whatsoever. Why her mindset would change, she had no idea.
She was lucky about one thing though. The Kuchiki heir didn't like the fact that she was there and based on his emotions, it seemed that the older version would feel the same. At least they would sever ways once this was over with though, Rukia didn't understand why it was happening the way it was. She didn't know how she formed a relationship with the Gotei 13, Sensei Okasake was there for her. Why were things the way they were? Why, if her mindset did change, did she choose the Kuchiki clan?
If anything, she should've let Sensei Okasake officially adopt her if she somehow changed her mind. What was the need to accept the Kuchiki clan's offer? Why did they even make that type of offer anyways?
No one but the older version knew though she had asked her to be patient with her. Things seemed to be hard for them in the future. It seemed that the older version of herself was trying to protect her from all of that but she still wished to know regardless.
It would hurt, yes. But, she had so many questions, so many things and relationships which just could not make sense.
What was the older self hiding from her? What had happened to result in her...living like this?
Snapping her out of her thoughts, Captain Kuchiki appeared behind her, gesturing to take a walk with him. Notifying her younger brother, she ran to catch up with him.
She figured she'd find out soon enough, she just had to wait.
Byakuya had his stretcher moved.
He could not stand being next to the woman or her younger counterpart as of now. He had Urahara Kisuke move his stretcher to the far end at the left. He was now near Captain Ukitake's body with no other body by his left side.
Now having transformed to the soul reaper uniform his grandfather gave him and their clan's gloves, he leaned against the left side of his body with that woman's book.
It hadn't been his intention however, having forgotten to lock the wheels from moving below the stretcher, he slightly fell back and scrambled to regain his composure. By then, the woman's quotebook fell from his hands—some of the contents within it on the ground.
He sighed. Unfortunately he was well aware of how important this book seemed to be to her. According to his grandfather, she never let anyone touch it, let alone read it.
Apparently, he was the first.
Grudgingly, he did feel some need to care for it a bit if that were true. He crouched down to collect the loose pieces of papers and what not. Standing up, he tried to chuck them all into random spots, he figured he would have to tell her later that he had dropped it and that some things went flying out. About to turn, he stopped. There was one more thing he left out, it was a photograph. Recognizing a few faces, he leaned forward.
Picking it up slowly, his eyes stared, expressing a range of emotions. He did not know whether he should feel confused or shocked or uncomfortable. His gaze was strong as he stared at the photo, trying to make sense of it all.
It was at...the Annual Noble Heir compulsory photo gathering.
This photo in particular was of the then 5 Great Noble clans.
Everyone on there he had seen and knew except one….
From left to right, the order ran from the Shiba clan to the Li clan to the Shihōin clan to his clan to….the Okasake clan. All members of the family were holding onto an heir or were the heir themselves.
His grandfather and aunt were behind his father who was holding onto his shoulders and beside him were…..one of the Okasake twins. He presumed this was Sensei Okasake Hirosuke who had his arms holding the shoulders of….her.
She was dressed differently, looked differently, she looked a lot like how the older version of her looked now. Her hair was styled the same way, she wore a short-sleeved black dress-uniform with a similar cuirass and those long black gloves that covered almost her entire shoulders. Her hands were near her lap as she leaned towards his side with a small smile.
She was next to him.
She had been next to him.
The other child who was beside her and the other Okasake twin who were supposed to come after were ripped out of the photo. There were only a few parts of it left for him to identify the missing face of the child and the other Okasake.
He never saw these people once. But they had been there and they had taken this photo on that day...right beside him and he didn't notice.
The anger came rushing back again, the younger version of that woman walked past him. He was at his limit.
Making eye contact, he was sure his expression was enough to indicate that something was wrong. She slowly approached him as he waited for her to come closer.
"What's wrong?" She asked. He looked back at the photo and then to her. He didn't know who these people were. He didn't know how he somehow got so involved in their life. More importantly, he didn't know how they'd always been there and yet he couldn't see.
Tightly holding the photo, he pointed to it with his other hand. "What is this?"
He gulped, waiting for her answer. "Oh—that? That's from the Annual Noble Heir Gathering."
The fact that she answered so casually indicated that perhaps she had been there for other events. As if that was normal for someone living in the Rukongai at the time.
"I know that." He answered in irritation. "Why. Are. You. There, is my question."
Rukia scrunched her brows, not following. She put her bang behind her ears as she spoke. "What do you mean? Didn't the older me already tell you that we're an associate of the Okasake clan? Of course, I'm there."
"This is for heirs, not random peasants who somehow managed to forge such a relationship with a noble clan. I thought you were just a casual unofficial member of the family, you should not be here. Why are you standing next to me?"
The younger Rukia didn't understand his anger. It was just a photo. "What do you mean? That's the order that our clans run in? It's based on hierarchy. It goes from the Shiba clan to Major Shira's clan to Yoruichi-san's clan to your clan and then mine. Shouldn't you know that?"
He was about to pop a vein. "I do know that but why are you there?"
Confused, Rukia did a transformation which the Gotei 13 had already seen, Byakuya and Tōshirō being the first to see it as it occurred. White reiatsu encircled her and covered her for a second before her kimono was replaced with the same short-sleeved black dress and the same cuirass which the older one wore and the Okasake clan gloves almost reaching her shoulders. Her hair looked nothing like before, it looked exactly like how the older version's hair looked now. She looked exactly like how she did in the photo he was holding.
Surprised by the quick transformation, he took a step back and dropped the photo in the process, allowing the Gotei 13 to finally see.
All of them surrounded that one photo to see what the younger Byakuya had been so surprised about.
Nobody said a word.
The Interioreum World Byakuya took a glance and found his eyes slightly widening yet again. Ichigo gulped and stared intensely, Kon said nothing, nobody said nothing.
Byakuya's reiatsu was a fucking mess, that much Ichigo knew. He was staring at the photo with the same expression, he was surprised too...all of them were but...this? What the fuck was this?
Although he changed his expression, he narrowed his eyes at the photo. Specifically himself and then, what appeared to be Rukia beside him with a small smile.
Contrary to his thought before of not losing hope, he could no longer think the same while he stared at the photo.
He did not know the woman who entered his clan.
This woman was...a stranger.
Ichigo was about to pull his hair out in frustration. Everyone was silent, nobody dared to say a word ever since seeing that photograph.
He hated this. He hated this more than anybody. He had no idea what the fuck was going on anymore. It didn't help that nobody here could answer his questions.
The same younger versions of Byakuya and Rukia had taken a photo with each other at some Annual Heir gathering event and Ichigo had no fucking idea why. She said she was a casual member of the clan, how was she all dressed up in what Ukitake said was their standard assassin uniform and black gloves at some noble event when she was supposed to be in the Rukongai?
It didn't help that she was literally standing beside fucking Byakuya and the Kuchiki clan members being his father, maybe-mother-maybe-aunt, and his grandfather who, according to Rukia, she had met in the Rukongai. Byakuya's grandfather already confirmed that they had met before Rukia even knew the Okasake clan and then somehow, decades later she ended up in the same clan she was standing beside when she was younger.
He felt bad for Byakuya. Nobody knew the answers anymore. His future sister, his future sister-in-law, had been standing beside him at some noble heir event and he never fucking knew. She had been there beside him with the Okasake clan however, whatever sheatsu world they had prevented him from seeing them.
This was crazy, absolutely crazy and the fact that Rukia hid this all from him, while being a member of the Kuchiki clan was insane.
He remembered when Byakuya told him that he had never seen the Okasake clan (AN: Not Just Yet). He had told him he had only ever seen pictures in some Noble Hall and even then, all of them were masked but what about these pictures? Didn't he see these photos at all when they were taken? Didn't he have these photos of him from the past?
Then he stopped.
According to what Captain Ukitake had tried to 'secretly' explain to him earlier, Byakuya's grandfather had created something known as the Common Kuchiki Law to prevent Byakuya from knowing or having any relations with the assassin. The law also prevented him from being aware of the Kuchiki clan's history with the Okasake clan which explained why he wasn't able to find any information on them or had any knowledge of who the assassins were.
He probably still didn't know there was a law. Ichigo didn't even want to tell him. This was too much, way too much for him to process all at once. He remembered when Byakuya had said that he had gone against the order that the Head Captain placed because he wanted answers (AN: It was Staged). Answers to who these people were and to figure out what the hell Rukia was hiding, though he didn't admit it at the time but this...this was way too much.
From wanting to gain a general understanding of who the Okasake clan and the assassins were, including Rukia's involvement with the Okasake heir, he had learned that:
1. Rukia had a younger brother.
2. Rukia was not the age everyone thought her to be.
3. His wife was mistaken.
4. His grandfather was alive.
5. Rukia knew his grandfather.
6. His grandfather had been there for her execution.
7. Rukia was an unofficial member of the Okasake clan.
8. Rukia had been beside him, probably a decent amount of times if she was out there attending 'noble' events.
In conclusion, he was digesting a whole lot given that it was all within his own circle.
Ever since seeing the photo he stood at the same spot, next to his stretcher. His eyes bore into the ground with the same impassive expression. Ichigo couldn't read him even if he tried. He stopped showing what he felt through his reiatsu and let the Gotei 13 distance themselves from him naturally. Captain Ukitake had been wanting to speak with him but he was not in the mood and Ichigo agreed that it was best to stay away for now.
All he knew was that if it had been him, he would've lost his mind right now. He didn't know how she was going to explain the rest. For some reason Ichigo knew they had barely scratched the surface of what she was hiding.
There was more.
So much more.
He just hoped he could prepare himself for when it was his turn to be directly affected.
As much as he hated to admit it, the younger version of the woman was right.
She wasn't involved in the actions of her older self, she was just as confused as him. According to her, she was asked to be a part of those events and even though she refused given her status, his grandfather and Sensei Okasake managed to convince her to attend. Though it didn't answer all his questions, unleashing his anger on the younger version wouldn't lead to any answers.
They both felt the same. Neither understood why they had met each other nor why their lives turned out the way it did. In a way, she had been left in the dark more than him. She informed him that she still didn't know why his clan offered to adopt her and although he knew the answer, his grandfather and the older version had warned him not to tell her if she asked.
She later told him she didn't have sheatsu and wore the assassin uniform because of her clan. After her mini explanation, they had settled down.
Now they both sat beside each other on the two chairs which were close to his present body. She leaned back on the chair with her body facing the right and he did the same with his body leaning to the left.
What had become of their life? They were sulking and rightfully so, how could something like this happen? He was still on the fact that he had no immediate family members left, no wife, and no kids. All he had was the very person beside him who was a professional liar.
If there was one thing he was glad for was that she felt the same. She wanted the older version to leave the Kuchiki clan and he agreed. The woman his older version lived with could not be trusted. It did not matter how long they lived, that woman was a stranger.
Silently sulking, he looked to her though she didn't catch his eyes. She was staring down at the ground, she was quite disappointed with how things turned out with herself.
Waiting for her to notice his gaze, when she looked up, he spoke. "Since you are somewhat a noble, perchance do you know the game kaibun?"
Rukia's eyes perked in surprise. "Yeah, why?"
"I have not played it in awhile." Rukia guessed that he wanted to play it so she looked ahead.
"Well then, go first." She said as he began to speak.
As they played the word game, Ginrei appeared with his arms crossed in front of them. Interrupting them by saying a palindrome for them, they both met his eyes.
"Captain!"
"Grandfather!"
They both spoke at the same time, saddened that he had interrupted their streak. They resumed their sulking all over again. "What is it?"
"How could this happen?" Rukia suddenly questioned. "How could you let this happen? I thought we were friends, Captain."
"What was I supposed to do?" Ginrei asked.
"The Kuchiki clan out of all places?" She questioned in disbelief, the younger Byakuya immediately took offense.
He turned to her. "And what is wrong with my clan?"
"It is funny." Ginrei blandly responded to Rukia while Byakuya waited for a response. He stared at them, the younger Rukia being familiar with what his silence indicated closed her eyes.
"Grandfather, this should not be amusing." He crossed his arms. "I adopted a peasant who just so happened to be a member of the Okasake clan and—" he looked to Rukia. "—know my grandfather and have a talent for lying."
"At least you became whatever you wanted to be! I became a Kuchiki clan member, out of all things, a Kuchiki clan member." She emphasized the surname to showcase her displeasure. "And somehow...I'm a soul reaper? And...I know the Gotei 13?"
As soon as they heard his voice they looked to him. "It is interesting given the fact I watched you both grow up."
Byakuya was at a loss of words. "...Grow up? Grandfather, you speak as if you raised her."
Rukia turned to Byakuya. "I grudgingly admit he had his influence on me."
"In conclusion, you raised us both." Byakuya clarified, addressing his grandfather.
"How is this possible?" He looked to Rukia. "Are you quite sure you are not a spy?"
Rukia grumbled in exasperation. "For the millionth time, I am not a spy."
"Then what are you?" Byakuya questioned. "I cannot believe you ended up in my clan solely by chance."
"Didn't we just go through this? I already told you the older me hasn't said a thing to me about any of this. I really don't know why she went there nor do I know why I know you or why I know these people lying down here." He was so...frustrating. She barely knew a thing and yet somehow she was the one getting yelled at.
"I was quite surprised with the result of both of your lives when I had returned."
"You mean...you didn't even know?" Rukia asked, bewildered.
Ginrei shook his head. "I had passed months before your adoption."
Rukia let out a sigh. "Why did the older me do this? You out of all people should know my reasoning. You're you!"
"Are you aware of her reasoning, grandfather?" Byakuya asked.
He nodded his head once.
"Then tell us." They both said at the same time.
"I cannot." He answered, given his tone neither bothered to ask further.
"Well," Rukia said before meeting Byakuya's eyes, "at least once this is over with, the older you can let me out of the Kuchiki clan."
Byakuya agreed. "That is true. Once this is all over with, you will have no reason to be with my clan, right grandfather?"
A moment of silence went by. They both looked to him yet again. "It is not that simple."
They waited for him to continue. He spoke slowly, "it seems that overtime, based on what I have observed, the older versions have come to care for one another. That being said, the termination of your adoption may not be as simple. It will depend on them."
"Why?" They both questioned immediately. Byakuya could not believe that the older him actually cared for her nor could Rukia. Why did things have to be this complicated?
Rukia rushed to speak. "Wait, wait, wait. Based on what exactly have you observed?"
Byakuya looked to her and then to his grandfather, wondering the same. He did not speak.
"Captain…" Rukia bawled. "...this is crazy. You mean to tell me that we actually like each other as siblings?"
Byakuya closed his eyes. "That implies that the older me really did come to find you."
Rukia threw her hands in the air. "Well, that's just great."
"Emotions are such a nuisance." Byakuya grumbled while Rukia nodded her head in agreement.
"I agree. I thought things would be simple to settle between us, now there's actual…" she gulped. "...feelings we have to deal with."
"Do not blame me. The fault is on your older selves." Ginrei said as he walked away.
Byakuya could not believe this, he did not know what was going to happen when the older version of him woke up and discovered that he had been betrayed.
That woman asked him not to doubt her sincerity but even so….she was a liar. How could she do all this if she actually cared about him as his grandfather had observed?
It made him more angry. That woman did not deserve his kindness at all.
Renji carefully walked into another corridor in the 6th Division barracks. He didn't know why the Captain had left him here, he was having trouble getting back and to make matters worse, the assassins and soul reapers were here. The entire Seireitei already believed he was a traitor, not to mention, the people he had left behind to become a soul reaper were too.
Although the Captain had assured him that Wildfire was no longer in the Seireitei, that didn't mean he could be exactly calm. If soul reapers spotted him, they would arrest him, if the assassins saw him, he would be taken back to the Capital to be questioned. After all, he did disappear on them.
He didn't know where the Captain was and frankly, he didn't want to go looking around even though he knew everyone should be in their rooms. It was also cold, very cold. He was freezing, the last place he wanted to be was here.
Walking down the long hall, he tried to stop himself from shivering. He wished he had brought back the cloak Captain Kurotsuchi had made for him, he was trembling so much he could barely walk without stopping to warm himself up. He tried texting Raiden but again, he didn't get a response. The Captain didn't even have a phone, not that he would use it, and Rukia wasn't answering him either.
Great.
Hearing a few voices, he quickly hid behind the nearest wall, watching some soul reapers from his division pass by. He was trying hard to keep his reiatsu hidden, the last thing he needed was to be arrested. He had no answers to their questions.
He wondered if his Captain had gone back to his home though he didn't want to risk being out in the cold again to check. He had lost the sense of his presence, there was no use in trying to check. The only option he had was to wait but waiting here out of all places wasn't exactly ideal either.
Once the voices faded away and Renji was in the clear, he proceeded to walk down the same, long dark hall all over again. The lights had gone out and the emergency lights had been activated. The backup lights which glared a neon blue fit the type of scenery outside although they barely gave the hall proper light. It was like discovering a window every three metres, blue then black, blue then black, blue then black. He didn't know where exactly he was trying to hide since the Head Captain wasn't here either, he was pretty much on his own until one of them found out.
Suddenly coming to a stop, he detected a sheatsu presence standing in the dark. He gulped, he hadn't even recognized it until it was nearby. Fuck, he thought.
A long moment of silence went by. He didn't want to call out to them either, he knew he had been caught.
It was by an assassin though, so in one way, at least he wasn't getting arrested. That would make everything a whole lot worse but the fact that the person who found him was silent made him nervous.
They were in the dark, a neon blue light on the side of the wall a metre behind them flared though he couldn't make out who it was. Clearly, they knew who he was though he could not recognize them.
The sheatsu presence was 2nd rank, Major: the colour yellow.
Before he could run through his memories to remember who had that colour of sheatsu who he knew, they came into the neon blue light he was standing in.
It was fucking Wildfire.
Tossing a blade in her right hand, she glared at him.
"Been awhile, hasn't it Renji?"
The whole room was dark. She had been here before many times when she needed to speak to him. Leaving Roger outside, she had parted the shōji and entered the room. If not for the glowing neon blue and purple lights, she would not see his figure standing in the middle of the room. His hair was partly tied up, though the long wavy hair remained on the sides of his face and cascaded behind him.
He smiled at her, waiting for her to walk slowly into the middle of the room.
The stool stood in front of him, she approached him quietly and stood on it, making eye contact with him. Those familiar iris eyes that had been watching her all her life. It had been awhile since she had been so close to him, she didn't remember the last time she found herself in this position.
Perhaps it had been...the very last July 23rd until she asked to be freed from him. The last July 23rd prior to 17 months ago.
She bit her bottom lip slightly, she wanted to know—no—she needed to know. She could not depend on Kla as time went by. She had come here to ask a question but just like when she was younger, she found herself a bit entranced. Lost in his eyes yet again.
She couldn't save him now. He was too far in for her to help him out. The last time, his last chance had been over a century ago. After that, she promised herself that she would not attempt to change him again. He was beyond saving, it was hard to accept but it was the truth.
And even if she'd never admit it out front nor would she ever have the courage to write it in her quotebook or say it to anyone else…..somewhere and she did not know why, some soft spot still existed.
He knew it though.
He knew it was still there and for the life of her, no matter her cold looks and everything she did which went against him to prove that he had lost her hand, it couldn't be erased.
They shared the same heart.
He was distancing himself again. He could not believe that this had been his fate. The older version infuriated him to no ends. She had lied in spite of sharing a relationship with him, she had willingly allowed him to be deceived and for that he could not forgive her.
He would not forgive her, even if she begged though, he did not even think she would let herself go that far. Despite her looks of 'sincerity' and occasional check ups, she had done nothing to prove that her sincerity was true.
All she did was talk. How did he expect her to trust in her sincerity when it was clear that she did not value the care she had been given? The fact that his older self went after her was bothering him enough. Having been completely fooled, he came searching for her after she ran away. The fact that their urgency to find her had been due to emotions being involved incited nothing more but hostility.
He did not like liars.
His only immediate family member left was a liar and a good one for a fact. She had managed to hide all of this without a single shinigami doubting her. Perhaps she had lived as his younger sister though it did not change the fact that she wasn't who she appeared to be.
Though at first he was displeased with her being a casual member of another clan, it was not enough for him to despise her.
Although the reason behind her adoption was odd, he had prepared himself to get to know her given the fact that she had ended up as his sister. He even felt the need to apologize to her when he had accused her of being a spy and a runaway bride. He even thanked her when she gave up her journal for him to read because his grandfather could not find the words to explain. And after all that, he found out that the older version of himself had no idea of any of these supposed facts.
Even now as his present body laid beside him, it made him angry. If he were to wake up, his concern would be for that woman although he would not know how much they'd been lied to.
He could not find the mindset to allow them even next to his body in spite of the woman's silent pleas to check the monitor and what not.
Although she was his only family member left and even if it was true that she cared, he would not allow himself to be treated by someone like her. Though, he did hold less of a grudge on the younger version as she was going through the exact same thing he was.
Looking up, he noticed his grandfather coming to approach him as an irritable loud noise filled the dimension.
"I must meet Hirosuke." Ginrei informed before extending his hand. Looking down, Byakuya was unsure of what he was trying to do. "There is a cleaner that runs past here to rid the dimension of any kind of reiatsu. Although you will be protected by the barrier set up, I will leave you with mine just in case. Do not leave the barrier no matter what. It is vital that you do not leave or else your body may be destroyed in the process."
Byakuya extended his hand and touched his grandfather's. In a quick action, a fraction of his mint green coloured sheatsu left him and entered Byakuya's body. Moving to his present body, Ginrei touched the hand of Byakuya's and transferred it to his body as well.
Opening a portal, he left immediately as Jushirmai and Kisuke formed a rectangular barrier around the bodies. The Gotei 13 who were standing outside of it, rushed into the area as a swarm of bats came flying in.
In seconds, millions of bats swarmed the area, all following the same direction. They all flew past in lighting speed, making a slightly irritating sound while doing it. The Gotei 13 looked at the bats as they passed.
"What the hell kinda cleaner is this?" Lieutenant Ōmaeda asked his Captain.
"It's as Captain Kuchiki said, the purpose of this cleaner is to rid anything that has reiatsu. This is an assassin-based dimension, reiatsu is not needed here. Although spiritual pressure is something every soul has, if you have sheatsu with it, you'll remain unharmed. This dimension is only for assassin-use only. In the event a soul reaper appeared, they would be killed by the occasional cleaner. There's no specific time when it comes on, it does arbitrary checks." Captain Sui-Feng informed, arms crossed by his side.
"Any reason for the bats, Captain?" Ikkaku asked.
"And what is that hideous sound?" Yumichika questioned after with one finger in his right ear.
Captain Kyōraku answered one of the two questions. "It's just a sound to let you know it's coming, I suppose."
Captain Ukitake answered Ikkaku. "As for the bats, it was most likely just a random selection."
"It sounds like a siren." Ichigo said while trying to block his ears.
Kon covered his ears in annoyance. "HOW LONG DOES THIS STUPID THING GO ON FOR?!"
"It usually lasts about four minutes." Captain Sui-Feng informed.
"All the bodies with sheatsu are lighting up again." Uryū acknowledged, noticing that as the sound got louder, there was a sudden burst of sheatsu coming from the bodies with it. They now glowed with their sheatsu releasing itself as a cylinder.
"It's getting really loud." Orihime said while covering her ears.
"I agree. What's happening?" Tōshirō asked Captain Sui-Feng. "Why is it getting so loud?"
Captain Hirako turned to the short Captain. "Must've found something reiatsu related, Captain Sui-Feng?"
"Likely." She answered. "Although it gets rid of the body rather quickly. Something similar to that of Captain Kuchiki's Senbonzakura. The body is immediately shredded after contact."
"Man, I'd hate to be around without sheatsu round here." Captain Hirako said, staring up at the cluster of bats still flying in tremendous speed past the barrier. The red-rocked dimension just looked black with the swarm of creatures.
"Urahara Kisuke." A voice called, belonging to the younger Captain Kuchiki. The Gotei 13 turned to him, noticing some distress in his tone. He was illuminated with a bright mint green shade, the sheatsu belonging to his grandfather, as he stood up. "Where is the younger version of that woman?"
Kisuke looked at him before looking around those who were in the barrier. "I actually don't know where the younger Kuchiki-san went. The older Kuchiki-san left a while ago."
The younger Byakuya gulped as a new voice entered the scene. "She went on a walk."
Ichigo's eyes widened. "The fuck? In this?"
"O-Oh no! D-Do you think younger Nee-san will be alright, Ichigo?" Kon asked in fear.
Ichigo attempted to leave the barrier. "I gotta go after her."
Though, the younger Byakuya moving close to the barrier stopped him. He was staring out of the barrier like it was a window. He said nothing, only stared with his eyes expressing fear.
Kisuke's voice stopped him. "Don't do it."
The younger Byakuya fixed his expression before looking at him. "Do not do what?"
"Don't go out lookin' for her." Kisuke warned. "It's dangerous. The younger Kuchiki-san will be fine."
"How does he know that?" Uryū questioned.
"I...I hope she's alright." Rangiku said, she was worried too.
"If she died, wouldn't that change the future then?" Lieutenant Hisagi asked, question directed at Captain Kurotsuchi.
"I don't know anything about his experiment with time though, something like that could be likely."
"That means she'll be fucking erased from time!" Ichigo yelled in frustration. He knew he wouldn't be able to reach her or save her which made him feel worse. He had to place his bets on Byakuya now.
He looked back at the barrier. "Grandfather informed me that this cleaner destroys anything with reiatsu."
"That may be true, Captain Kuchiki but your sister will be fine." Kisuke said as Jūshirmai finally met his eyes.
"She'll be fine." Byakuya did not like him one bit.
Ichigo and Uryū both looked at each other after the doctor's surprising comment. He looked calm, it was as if the cleaner could somehow not affect her.
The younger Byakuya still stared at the barrier, contemplating. He felt nervous though the fact that no one within the barrier seemed nervous made him second guess his fears.
"Senbonzakura…." he nervously called.
The manifested form which had returned to its sword form answered his call. "Yes, master."
"Is she...alright?" He was asking about Sode No Shirayuki.
A moment of silence went by, both the younger Byakuya and Interioreum World Byakuya stood beside each other, awaiting their sword's response.
"I...don't know." He responded honestly.
Byakuya gulped nervously. With Senbonakura's response, he dashed out of the barrier.
"Captain Kuchiki!" Kisuke called after but he was already gone.
"Won't he be fine if he has the other Captain Kuchiki's sheatsu though?" Yūshirō calmly asked, sitting on the side of his sister's stretcher.
"He doesn't know how to use it. He only has it as a force within him right now." Kisuke said before standing up.
"What's going on?" A familiar female voice entered the barrier with a snake around her neck. Ichigo and the rest of the Gotei 13 turned to see her.
Rukia.
"I'm afraid the younger Captain Kuchiki left the barrier, he went after the younger version of you thinking that you'd be destroyed by the cleaner." Kisuke informed.
Rukia's eyes widened. "What?!"
"He has the other Captain Kuchiki's sheatsu though. He transferred some to him before leaving." Yūshirō quickly said after.
"Oh no…" she muttered to herself. Quickly, she bolted past Ichigo's Interioreum World form and ran out to get him.
"Will Kuchiki and the other Kuchiki be alright?" Tōshirō immediately questioned upon Rukia leaving.
"As long as you have sheatsu in this world you will be fine." Captain Sui-Feng said in response though the Gotei 13 still felt nervous.
Captain Ukitake stared at the spot where both the younger Byakuya and his Lieutenant had run out from. "I hope they're alright."
"Hey, if Captain Sui-Feng, Urahara, and her younger brother aren't worried then they should be fine." Captain Kyōraku said in an attempt to cheer everybody up.
"Though that in itself is strange." Uryū said, staring at the shopkeeper who still couldn't see him.
"Byakuya! Byakuya!" Rukia called as she utilized Roger's sheatsu around her to act like a light to see clearly. The white sheatsu outlined her figure as she continued to call for him.
Flying with the same speed as the bats, she looked down to see if she could spot him while calling his name though, she knew it would be difficult to hear given the noise the cleaner made when running through.
"Roger." She called beside her. "By any chance are you in the mood for bats?"
"Well, it's not a typical kind of meal for me." He responded. "I've never tried it of course but still, that is not for me."
"Buttttttt…."
He released a sigh. "Given the situation, I suppose I can...give it a try. Set me free."
With that, she brought her right finger to his mouth before leading his body out. He followed her finger before moving himself forward, his body enlarged the further he moved away from her. Although the end of his body remained around her neck, the rest grew. Suddenly he became very large, moving upwards, he then dived into the swarm of bats, swallowing them as he moved forward to get rid of as much as he could. With the darkness away, Rukia attempted to spot the younger Byakuya she knew.
She was worried. He had gone after the younger her even though she was protected. Rukia knew the moment he found out that he had potentially risked his life for her it would make him upset. It made her regret leaving as soon as she did. If she had been here when the cleaner ran, she would've been able to reassure him herself.
The younger Byakuya would be okay. He had his grandfather's sheatsu and even if he didn't exactly know to release it or use it to his advantage, he did...have a backup. Though, she didn't want to depend on either given that he had gone out for her.
She had left so quickly, somehow her gut told her to come back when she did. Flying now in search for him made her realize how fortunate it had been that she acted on that feeling and left. Though...once she found Byakuya, she would have to go back.
There were still a lot of words left unsaid.
###
Earlier
With her hand on his heart, she tried to sense any feeling. It was contaminated, only he could tell her how many hearts he ripped out and how many soul emotions he devoured in order for it to get this dark. It made her nervous, with one touch she could feel the intensity of the dark entity which swarmed inside the heart. Focusing on his chest, she could hear the screams, tears, and anger which he had stolen and gave to the heart—this wasn't his, though his was a part of what she was feeling.
She wanted to whisper 'what have you done?' though, words could not form nor come out. She found herself lost, staring at the left side of his chest where her hand rested.
The pain of loss.
The issue with the heart was simple. You could hide away any emotion you'd like, convince yourself that you do not feel them and even act in ways to go against your emotions however, you could not erase them.
For something intangible, it held such a tremendous grip on beings. The ability to feel was a curse and yet a gift.
Rukia couldn't believe what she felt. The heart she was trying to connect too was corrupted with emotions belonging to others. In turn, it was poisoning her too. And he knew it was poisoning her, it was poisoning him too, they were in the same boat.
They were connected.
Removing her hand, she gulped, trying to focus on the reason behind her visit. The weight of the feelings she had felt from him made her sick.
His deep voice caught her attention, trying to catch her eyes in the barely lit room. "What is it?"
Slowly, her eyes met his. She saw nothing but amusement. How she got involved in this mess would never fail to amaze her. How she wished fate was not a thing.
When she didn't speak, he filled the silence. "You've come to ask me something. What is it?"
Her eyes fell on the body on the floor, further behind him. He turned to look at it slightly before meeting her eyes again. "Rukia and I were in the middle of something."
"That's not me." She muttered, the fact that he had brought someone in to act as her was discomforting.
"Oh?" That amusing tone.
"You're disgusting."
"Why?" He asked. "My wife, the person I met when she was human came into the Soul Society and somehow, managed to find me. Coincidentally, my father thought we should marry and she refused."
He continued. "Then, she got ahold of my birthright and allowed herself to be contaminated by the Kuchikis. Now, she's trying to destroy me knowing that she will kill herself in the process. Am I supposed to be alone until you get yourself together? This is our home."
"That's not what happened." Anger coursed through her veins. "You know why you lost it, you know what you did. I'm not the first one of your obsessions."
"Obsessions they were, but nothing more."
"I never...not even once felt anything for y—"
"You are a great liar. No wonder the younger Kuchiki heir is so frustrated with you. You would not have fought the people you fought to keep me as heir if that were true. You even managed to convince Ginrei to hold on. You made everyone hold on," moving to her ear he whispered. "for me."
"Having faith in you is different. I fought because I believed you, I...believed in the fact that you were greatly misguided and needed help—" Her frustration was showing.
He grabbed onto her wrist. "You betrayed me."
His voice grew hostile, his eyes narrowed though she wasn't fazed. "Must I remind you what you did to me? What you did to my birthright?"
She said nothing, he continued. "My birthright is now in Hell. I found a reason to end my fixations and you did what you did."
She leaned into him, resentment in her eyes. "I don't regret it. I did what I did because you made me. No one made me do it but you and I. It was my decision and my decision alone."
"You're defending that clan again." The disgust in his voice was evident. "I told you when you were younger and you didn't listen. Look—" he aggressively jerked her hand. "—at what they've done to you."
"I did this to myself." She responded, loosening his grip. "Your birthright is in Hell because of you. No one but you is at fault for that. I won't let you even touch the Soul King spirit let alone look at it."
"You felt remorse. I know you did." He barked.
"I did not!" She exasperated. "You deserved it."
"How does one switch overnight?" His voice was calm now.
"You must've lost your mind." Rukia commented in disgust. "You disgust me! I've always told you how much I felt uncomfortable around you."
"Disgust?" He laughed while clutching her wrist. "How could you find me disgusting when you rushed to defend me?"
"People change." Rukia answered, her voice lower now. "I tried for Sensei Okasake, I tried because I believed in change, I did not try for you. You ended yourself."
"It was my right."
Her voice was just above a whisper. "If it was yours...it wouldn't be in my hands."
He stared at her for a while but she said nothing. He then turned, having Rukia fix her eyes at the back of his head to address, "the moonstone."
He said nothing, letting her continue. "On the night you came to find me, you read dead souls off the Gotei 13 (AN: First Encounter). That ability is connected to the moonstone, it has nothing to do with Sensei Okasake's gem. How did you get it? It's impossible to replicate."
"You."
Rukia dismissed his claim immediately. "That's impossible."
"The answer is you." He then slightly turned to the left, eyeing her. "If you can't accept the answer, then leave."
"Leave?" Rukia let out a half-hearted laugh. "I don't think you've ever asked me to leave before? Why? Is it 'cause I told you the truth?"
She hopped off the stool and walked towards him. "Now you're offended?"
She took a glance at the woman before requesting, "meet me in 302 when you're done."
###
His back to her, he stared out the window. He was now clothed though his hair remained the same.
She spoke behind him. "The moonstone, Jushirmai. I need to know how you got that."
Again, silence. "You already have a method to collect soul emotions through reiatsu, was that not enough to poison the heart? It's already so dark with the emotions you've gathered alone, what was your reasoning to read off them?"
With a croaky voice, he spoke. "You already know."
She waited. "The soul reapers' emotions will be stronger while they digest their inferiority along with the pain of those they lost."
"You already sucked those emotions out of them when those things occurred. Your 'special collector' already took what they could, was that not enough?" She questioned in frustration.
"No." He responded venomously. "If we are taking soul reapers back in time, they must feel those emotions again. It will be good for the heart."
"You've already poisoned it enough! It's beyond saving at this point, I have no idea how I'm going to purify it." Rukia admitted. Feeling the heart so strongly, it was already so lost in the dark. The sound of those screams and tears still rang in her ears. "How did you gain that ability? How were you able to take it from the moonstone?"
She didn't realize she was already in front of him, leaning on the window he was looking through. "Tell me, Jushirmai."
He didn't look at her.
Reaching out to touch the side of his kimono, she waited. "It can't be replicated nor could it ever be something you could gain, how could you have possibly gained that ability?"
He finally looked at her, analyzing her face—she was tired. The skin beneath her eyes were blackening, her eyes expressed frustration and exhaustion, she looked weak in spite of how much energy her voice seemed to possess.
Slightly sitting against the glass, she didn't realize that she found herself in the same position, given her height, that woman had been in.
His hand reached out to her, one finger slightly traced her neck. The finger got lower and lower and lower, gently touching the chain around her neck as it went all the way down to the center of the necklace.
She tried to bite her tongue to avoid a whispered gasp but he stopped her. "Don't."
She still didn't do it as his finger slipped under the pendant of the necklace, bringing it up to the light.
She always kept it hidden.
"You owe…" he glared at her. "...your weak heart for that."
Rukia gasped.
###
Rukia spotted the familiar mint green sheatsu outlining the body of a younger Byakuya. It was fortunate that it had instinctively created a barrier around his body to protect him from the swarm of black creatures as he ran.
Roger swallowing a majority of them, made him look up to spot her. She went down to join him, his eyes perked up in surprise. "What are you doing here?!"
He was yelling the words pretty loudly though she could only make out the last two. She presumed she was asking what she was doing here but that was obvious. "Why did you leave the barrier?!"
He squinted his eyes, indicating that he didn't understand. "WHY...DID...YOU...LEAVE...THE...BARRIER?!"
"THE YOUNGER YOU IS MISSING!"
"SHE…" she opened her mouth largely to over-pronounce the words so he could understand. "...WILL...BE...FINE! WE…HAVE...TO...GO...BACK!"
"WHAT?" She didn't even hear him, she was glad that she was about to make it out.
"WE...HAVE...TO...GO...BACK!" When he didn't understand, she grabbed him by his arm and pulled him. More bats swarmed around them as she led him back to the barrier. Roger gave up on eating and went back to his normal form wrapped around her neck.
"SHUNPO!" She heard him yell though she didn't have the energy to yell that shunpo didn't work when the cleaner was running. Holding onto him, she sped out of the cluster of bats, searching for the light of the barrier.
"Rukia-sama, it's there." Roger said, though she was having trouble seeing. There were too many minuscule wings flapping in her face.
"Lead...the way." She ordered as she pushed off some bats from her face. Roger moved his head forward, still glowing with his white sheatsu. Extending his body from her neck, he looked like a thin white line, Rukia followed with the younger Byakuya behind.
She didn't recognize a thing until she stepped into the glowing orange barrier and could finally take a decent breath. Both her and the younger Byakuya let out a heavy breath.
Rukia swallowed. "Are you…" she inhaled. "alright?"
He nodded his head, trying to stabilize his breathing.
"Glad to see you're alright." Kisuke said in front of her. She was too out of breath to say anything so she just nodded her head as a response.
The noise was starting to subside, slowly the amount of bats swarming in the same direction began to lessen as the sheatsu cylinders which were created boiled down. Eventually, the bodies with sheatsu stopped illuminating, the bats disappeared, and the barrier surrounding the bodies was dismantled.
They were safe.
The younger Byakuya sat quietly next to his body. He had not said a word after the older Rukia had returned. Once the cleaner disappeared, she stated that she was 'in the middle of something' and left through a white portal. He had not questioned her, he did not speak to her, he just let her go.
He was still upset with her. He could not let the fact that she came out to find him change what had occurred. A liar was what she was, he would not forgive her.
Lost in his thoughts, he hadn't noticed his grandfather entering from afar though, once he did, he ran up to him.
"Grandfather." He acknowledged, his grandfather grunted in response.
"What is it?"
He wasn't sure himself. Partly opening his mouth, he tried to speak but ended up saying nothing.
His grandfather narrowed his eyes, waiting. "Did...Did you perchance give the younger version of that woman your sheatsu prior to your departure?"
His chest heaved, he did not know why he felt so nervous about his grandfather's response. "No."
Looking away, he stared into the ground. His heart was beating and he did not know why. Spaced out, he just looked into the ground until his grandfather spoke again. "What is it?"
He looked up. "Huh?"
Ginrei said nothing, watching him look around with a bothered expression. With Byakuya looking to his left, impatiently tapping his foot, Ginrei looked to his left having noticed the younger Rukia approaching them.
"Byakuya." He called, recognizing what had occurred.
He looked up again, saying 'huh?', before following his gaze. Worried eyes were suddenly swallowed with anger, he walked up to her. "Where have you been?"
Rukia was a bit startled, having leaned back a bit at his tone. "What?"
He spoke slowly this time to emphasize his displeasure. "Where were you?"
Her eyes sparked a little wide. "Me? Oh, I just went on a walk."
"To?" He questioned right after, the calmer she was, the more it bothered him.
"Nowhere." She shrugged. "I just wanted to walk, there's nothing to do."
"And you did not think to inform anyone of your leaving?"
Rukia blinked. "I did, I told Jushirmai." She then pointed to her younger brother near Lieutenant Kira's body.
"That does not count." Byakuya said.
She crossed her arms. "Why not?"
Walking closer to him she spoke, "it's not like anything was happening here anyways. I just went for a walk 'cause I was bored."
"Noth…" He found himself scoffing in disbelief.
Rukia stared at him, trying to figure out what he was trying to refer to happening, and then it clicked. "Ohhhhh, do you mean the cleaner?"
Byakuya's eyes perked at how casually she mentioned it.
"What about it?" Rukia asked. "It does random checks and unfortunately has the most irritating sound in the whole world. I might have to ask Sensei Okasake to change that, the fact that it goes on for four minutes is pure torture."
"Oh, please do. It's the most ugliest sound I've ever heard." Yumichika commented in the background.
He could not believe...He had risked his life, going against his own grandfather's order, to find her when she was absolutely fine. She spoke of it as if it was just a casual thing and could not kill her.
He did not like them.
The older version of her and now even her.
How did he end up with such people he wondered.
The worst part of it all was that similar to that of his older self, he had gone after them solely based on his instinctive emotion of fear. He, with displeasure, was worried and here she was perfectly fine talking away.
She must've noticed the change in his demeanor as she stepped forward. "What is it?"
Staring at her, he did not know what to say, he did not know why he ran out, he should've stayed. No one was worried, he especially should not have been worried. They are not his concern, they are most definitely not his concern. Never once had he regretted an action as much as he regretted leaving the barrier earlier.
"...Byakuya?" She called, though he would not answer. Her eyes fell upon his grandfather behind him, she questioned him the same thing before meeting his eyes again. "Is something wrong?"
Paying her one last glance, he turned around. "Stay away from me. I cannot stand you."
The red haired teenager stared into the mirror near Hisana's shrine, fixing her newly dyed hair from brown to red in overwhelming happiness.
"Ahhhhh Sister Hisana, don't you think the red suits me more than brown? I saw it in a picture with Raiden and I thought 'wahhhhh how cute!' so naturally, I went and got it done myself and I must say, I look spectacular. I'm sort of annoyed I'm not gonna lie, Sister Rukia hasn't visited me ever since asking me to ask Jushirmai—and no, I don't mean your brother, Jushirmai, I mean the weird guy who I'm technically still a part of who um, changed his name to Jushirmai for Rukia, might I add which is super weirdbut anyways—she hasn't come to me or us ever since. I wonder where she's off too."
Taking the brush from the table in front of her, she brushed through her hair. "I tried connecting to Jushirmai but I had no luck. I really tried, I mean it, I did. With my whole chest I did and yet nothing." She gasped. "Sister Hisana! Do you think that means that I've finally become my own person?!"
She squealed.
"That means that when Jushirmai dies, I'll live! That would be amazing, the last thing I need is me dying just 'cause he somewhat created me. Actually, I lied—Sister Rukia technically created me 'cause ya see, Jushirmai was actually a really, really, really, really bad person. He's existed for centuries and he went after other people who were not Rukia before she was born. Then, when he saw Rukia as a human, ya know….it incited things….and all of a sudden he started acting like a lo-ser and Sister Hisana? When I say he began to act like a lo-ser, he really did start acting like one. Suddenly he was so clumsy and dumb and irritating because he was so dumb. The way he changed was so weird and he continued to act like that while meeting Rukia. And ya see, once the whole showdown with the Soul King stuff happened when they were younger, Jushirmai then separated me from his body creating me! So, if it wasn't for Sister Rukia I wouldn't even be here. I owe my life to her."
She stopped brushing her hair and pouted. "That's why I feel bad. I should try harder to find out if he used the moonstone but...how would he get the moonstone? How would he even get that ability? I feel bad for Sister Rukia, she's going through sooooo much stress right now. I mean, besides the past, she has to deal with the Gotei 13 bodies, and the current situation which are all connected to her. I hope she's well and sleeping. She can be soooooooooooo stubborn. Sister Hisana? Although I know once a soul dies in the Soul Society, there's no way in hell they can remember their life or come back as a ghost or anything, if possible, please lend her your strength."
Then she grew angry. "Wait. Never mind. DO NOT waste your time. That Kuchiki man is there! Kuchiki Ginrei, yeah! As much as I hate the Kuchiki family, they all really care about her so...she should be fine. Though, I better not see any dark circles under her eyes or I'm fighting him. Besides, he's dead isn't he? He can't be that powerful. If he had his full powers even though he's dead, that would be so cheap!"
"I cannot tell you how much I despise that clan." She seethed. "I hate them and a lot of it has to do with Jushirmai I'll admit but yeah, I hate them. GOD. I CANNOT. STAND. THEM. ALL OF THEM! Pompous fucks."
Covering her mouth immediately, she bowed to the photo. "Sorrryyyyy, I know one of them happens to be your husband and Sister Rukia's brother-in-law/brother which is sorta weird don't cha think? What were you thinking, sister? If anything, shouldn't you have just asked him to FIND RUKIA and that's it? What's with this whole adopting nonsense? What a weird family set up I mean, they're supposed to be siblings but you and Rukia look identical, again Rukia does look a bit different though when she leaves her hair out the way she usually does, I love the way she looks but ummmm….don't people think your husband is weird? Like...that's hella creepy. How are you gonna have your husband adopt HIS sister-in-law, who just so happens to resemble his dead wife and is biologically related to her, as his sister of all things? It doesn't help that Sister Rukia knew the Kuchiki family prior to you marrying into the clan! I swear, after hearing what the hell happened with that household, I stopped thinking Sensei Okasake was weird. By Sensei Okasake, I mean the one who was Jushirmai's adoptive father."
"And prior to even knowing you existed, I used to think that she might even be RELATED to the Kuchiki clan. Between you and I, she kinda...and I say this with great distaste, please remember I hate the Kuchiki clan...looks like the Lieutenant. Only slightly though, I swear. Again, that all goes away when she wears her hair the way you do but she doesn't even LIKE that hairstyle 'cause it reminds her of spiders. Sister Rukia told me you also had a fear of spiders too, how strange. Think that's why she got used to that pretty hairstyle she wears now when Sensei Okasake combed her hair out and did it for her. But then….ya know what happened and she had to change herself so she went back to it. Think she grew to like it a bit better after keeping it like that for 50 years."
"BUT DID YOU SEE HER LITTLE SOUL REAPER CUT?" Kla asked in excitement. "Please, she looked sooooo cute. She won't let me hug her in that form though, how annoying! Think she's mad that I'm taller? Oh well, it's not like that body was ever her actual body anyways, geez. She really became attached to the whole shinigami thing, didn't she? I almost fainted when I saw her walk in, the gloves though...WHAT AN INSULT TO SENSEI OKASAKE!"
"I SWEAR. I yelled at her, you were here obviously 'cause you can't go anywhere, so much but she still would not remove them. Listen, I get that she was close with the Kuchiki clan prior and yeah sure, that's her brother but come on! Accepting the gloves is one thing but wearing it too? How dare she?"
"Then again...after JUshirmai helped her get her body back, our Jushirmai that is, she still wore Sensei Okasake's gloves every day with her uniform. She must've missed him a lot, huh?"
Releasing a sigh, she picked up her handbag, prepared to leave the house. Moving in front of the portrait, she slightly crouched. "I'm gone, the house is for you. Don't miss me too much!"
Opening a white portal, she headed towards the group underground.
Flashback
"Come on." Ichigo dragged the words as he led Rukia down the hall to the library. It was evening though Karakura High School had opened for evening study, something Rukia knew nothing about.
"Where are we going?" She asked with her hand bag in her hand. "Won't your sister be mad at us if we're late for dinner again?"
"Nah, she knows we're staying here." Ichigo said with his bag hanging over his shoulder.
Making a turn, they entered the large library. Walking in, Rukia looked up, surprised at how big it was. It was almost like the library in the Kuchiki home though, it was medium-sized compared to the one in the mansion. "What are we doing here?"
"Well," he cleared his throat. His hand rubbed the back of his neck as he looked at her. "I gotta study for exams and you got paperwork to do for Ukitake."
Rukia was surprised. "We came here to do work?"
"Yeah, the school's open till midnight. They give out dinner n'stuff so don't worry. I figured we both got things to do so why not? Not like we can concentrate at home anyways, my old man's there." Rukia nodded her head in response before following him to an empty desk, far away from the main area.
###
Empty plastic bowls with dinner and over ten juice boxes were splattered on one side of the desk, the other side contained all the paper they'd been working through. Ichigo through physics, Rukia through other things.
She wasn't doing her shinigami work. She was working on something else. Her eyes were concentrated on the papers she read through, her mind hadn't caught the voice that was still calling her until they touched the paper and she jerked away.
Looking up, she blinked, realizing where she was.
"Didn't mean to startle you." Ichigo apologized.
"Huh?" Why was she so dazed? "...uh...yeah...right. It's okay."
"Something wrong?" He asked. It was an innocent question, why was she being so careful?
"No." She quickly said before putting the papers back together. "...you just…"
The words died at her throat. Keep it together, she told herself. "What's that?"
She now found herself pointing at some machine where people were putting their cups under. He turned to look before meeting her eyes. "Want some? It's hot chocolate."
She nodded her head. "I'll go get it."
As soon as he left, she tried to control herself. She didn't know why she had been so startled when he touched the papers. Her body had reacted way before her mind could realize where she was. She didn't mean to jump back, she was analyzing these papers in front of him because she was comfortable enough to do so. Anyone else and she wouldn't even dare bring this matter up so close.
All the evidence, all the years of work were right in front of her. She could never leave this so out in the open to just anybody. Shuffling the papers, she neatly put them in a pile and shoved them under her quotebook. Standing up, she headed towards the nearby shelf beside her. In between 2 shelves, she looked past the books, not paying attention to many as she waited for him to come back.
Though, she figured that there was a line as to why it was taking him so long. After walking back and forth, she picked up a random book from the shelf and stayed there to skim through it. It was some nature magazine, she figured she was in the nature or geography section given the names of some of the books. Not caring much, she didn't pause until she saw it.
It being her fear.
One of her fears actually though, this one was quite…personally motivated.
Closing the magazine immediately, she looked up to the space where she had found it and gasped. Dropping the magazine, she stepped back.
It had only been a second but the section was empty, showing the other side. She only saw a glimpse, but she knew those eyes well. Those eyes were the ones that incited this fear of hers in the first place. They were red, belonging to a woman with a black veil covering her face. Out of all places, she did not know why they appeared here. Even though her face was now gone, she needed some time to recover.
Why was she here?
Couldn't she wait until after Rukia was alone? Stabilizing her breathing, she bent down to pick up the magazine on the floor. Once she looked back up, the space was packed with the other magazines. Putting the one she was reading away, she attempted to turn back to her desk however, two arms which encircled her made her fear…
Not here…
Relief washed over her as the hands beside her were holding 2 styrofoam cups. It was Ichigo. He was the one behind her for sure. "Here."
Rukia reached out to grab the cup. "Thought there was a line."
"Nah, it was short." Ichigo said. "Come on."
He led her back to the desk. She didn't even bother turning around, afraid of what she would see if she did.
###
Back to her reading, she tried to ignore the now distant memory of those eyes that had appeared again. She told herself it was just a bad dream and that nothing could happen in here.
She was with Ichigo, she was safe.
If she needed too she could protect them.
She had nothing to fear.
Something told her Ichigo was onto math now because he was grumbling every 2 minutes about not understanding a thing. She was a lot calmer now, her eyes were focused now and her body was aware. She could read without feeling fear.
After all, it would only feed him her emotions. She had to be careful for the sake of her heart.
Putting the two papers down, she crossed her arms on the desk and stared—the yellow lamp light above her helping her read. She needed to know more about his heart, who exactly he went after, who affected what in the process, she was thankful this research was given and entrusted to her.
###
Ichigo lied.
There was no line.
He just wanted to know what was up. Now he knew he shouldn't have done it, he felt guilty for even taking a glance at it but the way she had jerked back when he had touched it made him wonder. It had only been a small glance, he didn't see anything out of the ordinary, it was just weird that she made that type of reaction.
Rukia, out of all people, didn't get scared that easily. The fact that she was startled by just a touch surprised him. He wasn't expecting her to be so frightened. Even after, she started to act weird. It was like he really had frightened her.
He knew she didn't just want the hot chocolate, she just needed time to recover though, he didn't know why touching the paper had been such a big deal. He concluded that maybe she was just lost in her thoughts but the way she reacted even after told him that something was up.
While she was out, looking through the shelves, he took a peek at what she had been working on. All he saw was a diagram of a heart, a few papers which were slightly yellow and written in old writing, some more papers with writing, and some drawings that he knew that Rukia didn't draw. The ones he saw looked like they belonged in some abstract art museum. Rukia drew bunnies.
He would've seen what exactly they were of if she didn't gasp so loudly. By then he had quickly moved away from the desk and went around so that he could greet her from the other way.
He didn't know what she saw to make her gasp the way she did but seeing the type of magazine she had dropped onto the floor, he figured what it had been.
A spider.
Flashback end
End Note
Images For This Chapter
1. 1 new images of Rukia's hairstyle. I found an art with something like it.
2. More images of Rukia's hairstyle can be found under Images For This Chapter under chapter She Never Turned (Interference)
- byaruki / tumblr