Noble Love - Bleach (Kuchiki Byakuya x Oc x A bit of Various)

二十六

Asa stared at the intruder with wide eyes. Despite never seeing him before, she knew who he was. His reiatsu was so familiar that, there was no way she could've mistaken it after fighting with him ever since she knew his name. "Y-You're-!" she gasped, but couldn't being herself to complete her sentence.

Seeing that she recognised him, the young boy smiled before greeting, "Hello, Asa-nee."

"B-But, how...?" she questioned, still stunned by his presence as she let her hand slip from her sword.

The boy didn't reply her, but the corner of his lips curled into a frown, one that told her that something wasn't right, just like she had assumed since that afternoon. "I can't tell you much." he said sadly. "But for the time being, I'll tell you something important." Before he began, he looked around, like he wanted to make sure that no one was eavesdropping on them, and shut the door, locking it from inside. His gaze then returned to the woman and he said, "There's a Zanpakutou spirit that can enter the inner world of a Shinigami and bend their Zanpakutou spirit to his will."

Asa looked even more surprised, because she knew what he was saying. "So when this happens, a Shinigami whose Zanpakutou spirit has been manifested is left unable to release their Shikai." she deduced.

The young boy nodded. "As long as their Zanpakutou spirit is manifested and under his mind control, the Shinigami cannot perform Bankai until their Zanpakutou spirit returns to them." he continued. "How to make them return to their master? I don't know."

Asa took a moment to think about the whole scenario before something came up. "But you're not attacking me like you're supposed to." she pointed out. "Did you do something to resist it?"

"At times like this, I'm grateful for the abilities that I have." he said sheepishly before his tone became serious. "I'm not the only one who resisted him, Asa-nee. Ryujin Jakka-sama refused to join him, and because of that, your grandfather is sealed away."

Asa gasped with horror, as she was starting to be worried about him. "Is Ojii-sama okay?" she asked desperately.

The boy sadly shook his head. "I don't know." he said. "I wish I could be near him, but I do that too much otherwise the others will know what's going on. For now, I'm using my illusion to make him think that I'm on his side, but I can't tell how long it'll take for him to figure it out. And if he does, there's a possibility that he'll kill me."

Asa's look of panic changed into one of concern and confusion. "Why are you doing this, Kage-kun?" she asked, who didn't like the idea of letting him sacrifice his life.

Kage, whose real name was Kage Odoriko, gave her a small smile. "Because I want to protect you, Asa-nee." he replied. "I don't like the thought of being controlled by him to kill you. So here's my plan - I will create an illusion tonight where you've been badly injured by me. When that happens, he will think I'm against the Shinigami and fighting with him."

"Are you sure about that?" she asked, still not convinced about this idea.

"Like I said before, I want to protect you." he said. "However, I need as much reiatsu as possible to make everyone think you're too weak to fight and to make the illusion very close to reality. That means you can't fight, no matter what. So I'll have Tamako to take you to the Human World and let you stay there until I think it's safe for you to come back." He looked at Asa in the eyes, with his gaze never wavering, and added, "But it's up to you whether you want to follow this plan, Asa-nee. I can't just take your reiatsu if you don't want to."

Few days later, Tadashi and Urahara were inside the latter's shop listening to Asa's side of the story, where she had decided to give her Zanpakutou spirit a huge amount of her reiatsu, leaving her too weak to even cast a Kidou spell. By the time she had transferred her spiritual power to Kage Odoriko, he immediately took off to start the illusion and left his toddler brother to bring her out of Soul Society, completely cutting off ties with everyone from there. Even though Rukia was around on the previous day after escaping from Sode no Shirayuki's assault, Asa made sure she left before she came into the Urahara Shop, right after Yoruichi left to Soul Society with Ichigo. When the owner saw her in her current state, he allowed her in before calling Tadashi over to hear the story while they were in the living room having tea.