Bleak: Retell

Chapter 12: Lotus Flowers on the Prepice

On the way to Rukia's holding cell, I could help by think of Byakuya. "What was he thinking about all of this..?"
Meanwhile, I heard what sounded like an alarm sounding within the walls of the Gotei 13.
"That doesn't sound good."  I glanced over as I followed along with Ganju, Hanataro, and Ichigo.
"What's up?" Ichigo glanced back at me for a moment.
"That alarm means that the 13 Court Guard Squads will be.." I was cut off as a hell butterfly passed by us, reverting the words of the announcement which came from the Head Captain himself. "All members of the 13 Court Guard Squads are now permissions to carry their zanpoktou. This is due to the now inclusive war-time request! In addition, Captain Souske Aizen was murdered earlier this morning. If you see the Ryoka, stop them!"
My eyes went wide, going back to last night's events.
"Won't you be my Queen, Hisana?"
I wanted to puke again. However, Aizen was now dead. The person who murdered my family and changed my life is now dead. However, I still have to live with the grief of being the last member of the Kusonarii family. Not to mention that Byakuya is giving me the cold shoulder, still.
Before we could advance further, a very strong spiritual pressure strung through. It was becoming hard for Ganju and Hanataro to press on. It was making the two of them weak. During this moment as well, we sensed Chad's spiritual pressure disappear to almost nothing. This meant wherever he had been, he was defeated in battle.
"No..." Ichigo looked stricken with worry. "Chad..."
"Ichigo. The strong spiritual pressure is coming closer!!"
"Who is it, Hisana?!"
Before Ichigo and I could advance, he had been slowing down. It felt as if there was a sword directly at his throat, aimed to kill.
Once the person appeared before us, they were rather tall and had a very broad muscular build. Their hair was separated into unique black spikes with bells on the ends of the hair spikes. He wore an eyepatch. Ichigo and I stop, and turn to see this man standing above on the rooftop. He was staring directly at Ichigo, grinning.
"Well. It seems I've finally found the strongest one in the bunch. Some people in my squad told me all about you. You must be Ichigo Kurosaki, right?"
"How do you know about me?" He stood with a defensive look. "My third seat, Ikkaku Madarame, told me about you and how you two fought when you first arrived here. I must say, pretty impressive you have gotten this far. He told you about me, didn't he?"
"He did. You're Kenpachi Zaraki."
"Perfect. You do know who I am." He grimaced. "Well, I'm here to have a fight to the death with you."
Ichigo and I stood there, shocked.
"Go along now, this ain't a place for a lady of your stature to be."
I backed up and stood to help Ganju and Hanataro, whom were unable to stand due to the overwhelming energy given off by Kenpachi's spirtual pressure.
"If you should encounter a captain, you need to flee. They will kill your right where you stand and you yet do not have the power to face another one."
These words were reverting in Ichigo's mind as he stood there, unable to think on what to do, let alone move. He turned back to check on us, asking if we were okay. "We're fine. Just being affected by Kenpachi's spirtual pressure. You need to worry about yourself, Ichigo." Ganju implied.
I clenched my fists and prayed silently to myself for Ichigo's safety. "Please win, Ichigo!"
Before Ichigo could turn around to get ready to fight against Kenpachi, a pink haired girl appeared out of nowhere. She was unaffected by Kenpachi's spirtual pressure. "Wow, it's pretty unfortunate of how that squad 4 member is drooling over there."
"W-Where the hell did you come from?!" Ichigo shook the girl around, trying to get her to come off of his shoulder. She hopped back over to Kenpachi.
"Who are you?" Ichigo demanded.
The pink haired girl smiled. "I'm Lieutenant Yachiru Kusajishi of Squad 11! It's nice to meet you!"
"She's like Renji.." Ichigo thought to himself. "A Lieutenant.."
Ichigo quickly turned to the three of us. "Go find Rukia!" Ganju picked up the unconscious Hanataro and I ran alongside them in direction to the Repentance Cell, where Rukia was being held.
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"Hurry, turn the key!" Ganju looked back at Hanataro. I stood between the two of them, hoping no one would get close or try to interfere. However, I was wrong. A strong spirtual pressure was quickly coming in our direction. The door to the repentance cell opened, and Rukia was there. Ganju looked shocked to see her for some reason, but Hanataro was really happy. "Rukia it's finally you! Ichigo sent us here to get you.." "Hanataro and.. Hisana...?" She turned her head towards me. "You're not with my brother?"
I shook my head. "No."
"You're the one who killed my brother."
Hanataro was shocked. "Rukia is too kind! She would never do something like that, right Rukia?!"
Rukia sighed, looking down.
"Yes. I'm the one who killed your brother.. Kaien Shiba."
Ganju gave Rukia a shocked, yet perplexed look.
"However.." Rukia continued on. "Let me explain."
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"I was a part of squad 13, and was sent to the world of the living with a group of others from the same squad. Your brother, Lieutenant Kaien Shiba, was part of that squad. His wife had also been sent along with us. She was such a beautiful, smart, intelligent lady. She was really well at commanding a team. I could see why Kaien paid such homage to her. However, while we were out in the field, a hollow attacked us. This hollow could steal the power and dissolve the physical form of a zanpoktou of whomever it touched. It could then invade the body of the host, and take control. The hollow did just that to Kaien's wife, then when Kaien gave her an honorable death, the hollow took control of his zanpoktou  and soon took control of Kaien. I tried to go after him because I wanted to save him, but Captain Ukitake arrived and told me to head back.
Being incredibly selfish and stubborn, I ignored his orders and went ahead. I found Kaien under the parasitic hollow's control. I had no choice but to fight and take it down."
Rukia then looked up at Ganju. "I'm sorry for the pain I may have caused you "

Before anyone else could say anything, a very strong spiritual pressure approached all of us. At the other end of the bridge that connects to the Repentance Cell stood Byakuya.  When he landed his eyes on me, he looked rather shocked. Not understanding entirely why I was here.
Rukia, who was practically brought to her knees by the sensation of Byakuya's spirtual pressure cried out to us. "You need to run! Get out of here now!"
Ganju stood tall, ready to claim his honor in battle. "Ichigo told us to make sure you came back safe. I'm not going to let him be sad. There's obviously a reason why he wanted you alive."
"You idiot! Don't fight him! He'll kill you!" She was incredibly worried.
"Hisana." Byakuya looked at me first. "Why are you helping these Ryoka?"
"Because Rukia doesn't deserve to die."
"How unfortunate. I'll deal with you after I deal with this Ryoka here." He appeared in front of Ganju in an instant. "He used flash step.." I thought to myself. "Over here pretty boy!" Ganju glared at Byakuya. "Pretty boy? Getting quite cocky aren't we?"  He paused then noticed the patterns on Ganju's pants. "That's a pattern I haven't seen for a long time. You're part of the Shiba clan, aren't you?"
"Shut the hell up. It doesn't matter. What matters is I'm gonna kick your ass!"
"Again, you've really underestimated who you're against."
Byakuya appeared behind Ganju in a split second, blood splattering out from his arm. Ganju immediately turned around, facing Byakuya. "I'm not gonna run away. I'm a Shiba! I can't turn my back on anyone!"
"My apologizes. I should be going not so easy on you anyways." Byakuya pauses, raising his zanpoktou up. "Scatter, Senbonzakura."
"Ganju run!" Rukia and i bellowed.
In an instant, blood splattered from all over Ganju's body. He fell straight down on the ground, beginning to bleed out.  Byakuya was going to attack again when Captain Ukitake appeared and grabbed Byakuya's wrist.
"Woah. I made it here just in time."
"Captain Ukitake..."
"Hello there Captain Kuchiki. Nice to see you." Captain Ukitake smiled. "It's nice I got here when I did or things could have gotten real dicey. You should probably stop, or you're going to really scar poor Rukia. The poor girl has been through enough. Hey Rukia! Miss Kusonarii! Good to see you both." Before anymore words could be exchanged, Ichigo appeared before all of us.
"What the hell..? You're bandaged and bloodied you idiot! You're going to reopen your wounds trying to save Rukia like this!" I yelled at him angrily. Ichigo smiled over at Rukia. "Hey, I'm here to save you Rukia."
"You fool! Why couldn't you just have let me die!"
"Hey! How's that a way to thank someone for coming all this way to rescue you?!"
"I must say..." Byakuya glanced up at Ichigo. "You do seem like you've gotten stronger. However, your chances of defeating me are slim to none,boy."
"Once I defeat you.." he grinned, "I'm going to leave here and take Rukia with me so that she can always smile and never have to experience this pain again!"
"You are mistaken. You will die here, and then Rukia will die by my own hand."
The two began to clash, but Ichigo's wounds opened up mid-battle. Everything had seemed rather grim, but Yoruichi showed up and placed a medicine into Ichigo's wounds, but also knocked him out. "In 3 days, he will have enough power to take you down. He will know bankai and take you down."
After they disappeared, they put Rukia back into the cell, and took Ganju and Hanataro away. Byakuya came directly up to me and took me with him. "You're coming with me."