Road to Redemption

Chapter 16: Everything's Blurry

A/N: Hey everyone. So good news, the dumb storm didn't do damage here other than making the internet slow for a few weeks, but other than that everything is dandy. I was going to upload yesterday but had to edit a bit and accidentally published a draft so sorry for the confusion 😅 I hope you like the chapter. Thanks for reading!

© Bleach and it's characters don't belong to me, they belong to Tite Kubo and Shounen Jump. Only Shizuka and Anna Maria belong to me.

Chapter 16: Everything's Blurry

Having to go back just to pick up the squad assigned to the Karakura mission had been one thing, having to see her brother was something else entirely.

Asami was sitting in front of Shizuka like a male mirror of her. 'I shouldn't be nervous...' she repeated in her head but it wasn't enough. Her hands gripped the fabric of her kimono trying to keep calm.

"Before you go back to your assigned duties, I wanted to show you some of the details for the wedding." He passed her a stack of papers.

Shizuka didn't say anything, her grey eyes remained indifferent as she went through the papers. There were pictures and lists of wedding kimonos, food, and decorations. To her, all of it was bleak and lifeless. She could not care less about the whole ordeal. 'Is this how Anna felt? No wonder she tried to get out...'

She picked everything at random and passed her brother the papers. "Here you go. Is that all?"

"Yes. You may leave. I shall see you when you the mission is over."

She didn't say anything as she left, the others were waiting for her outside. Except for Kira and Rose.

"Where are the Squad 3 members?"

"Fixing up the mess on their Squad. Leaving 3rd seat Riku in charge was not their best move." Momo answered.

Shizuka chuckled. "You can bet Asuka and Taketsuna have to take credit for that mess too." Shizuka sighed. She missed her division greatly but knew what awaited once she came back permanently.

"There's one thing I don't get. Nobody seems to be acting like we're in a state of emergency. You'd think the third seat or the other officials would have been more on edge."

"Rangiku is right. The division seemed awfully calm yesterday. Is this a new protocol?"

"No. Asami told me that the only ones who know about the emergency are us, the central 46 and the Head Captain. The rest of the Soul Society remains in the dark."

Gin opened his eyes looking visibly disturbed. "That can't be good, them being so secretive is what Aizen exploited to betray them the first time."

"I know, you'd think that after dealing with that they'd be more open. Sadly, that's not the case. I'm not too keen on keeping this secret either. I'm just hoping nothing bad because of this."

Finally Rose and Kira arrived. The pair looked exhausted. Shizuka walked towards them. "Messy division?"

"You have no idea sweetie." Rose shook his head. "I have the sight of that office engraved in my mind."

"We can talk about that later. Let's get to Karakura as soon as possible." Hitsugaya commanded.

Before she stepped through Senkaimon, Shizuka glanced at the Sereitei one last time, given that a small part of her wished it would be the last time she saw it.

***
"That's it! Try to hold it together for a while longer!" Riruka yelled as Orihime held up her shield.

After two hours of blocking her arms were getting heavy, but she was glad her Santen Kesshun was working so well against Shizuka's kido attacks.