Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ Daydreams Come True ❯ Many Thoughts, Many Impressions ( Chapter 37 )

Standing on the scaffold she wondered how the days had passed so quickly to bring her swiftly to the day she'd dreaded.

Even though she knew she was condemned to die, she had hoped, just a little, that the Council would rescind the order or her brother would help her.

Neither happened.

When the date was moved forward for her execution, hope had dimmed. Being kept separate from everyone and longing for Ichigo, who she might never see again, made her nearly long for an end, but she didn't want to die.

She tried praying. It brought little comfort. Instead it brought into stark relief all the things she didn't want to think about. Praying seemed to only make her brood. Instead she began to make bargains with the Gods.

"If you let me live, I will never see Ichigo again."

"I will be a better sister and meet the expectations of the Kuchiki clan."

"I'll marry Renji!" was one promise made when despair held her in its tight and comfortless grip. She didn't wish to marry him and she doubted they were even friends after their last encounter, but life seemed sweet and worth a bad bargain.

"I'll become a nun!" She wasn't sure if she would be a Buddhist one, or another type, but nuns had some freedoms and didn't have to die a humiliating public death. A quiet life of contemplation, prayer and privation may not be too bad. How would she look with a shaven head? She liked her hair, the way it felt when she brushed her fingers through it, liked the way it looked but she was prepared to become bald if it saved her life. "I'll be a nun, bald, obedient, chaste and vegetarian," she promised Buddha. "Please let me be a nun and not dead!" She tried to tamp down the attraction of no longer fighting Hollows or keeping to the unrealistic standards set by her brother.

Thinking about Byakuya sent a chill down her spine. She knew he only searched for and adopted her because of her sister. Her adoption might be due to a misplaced sense of honour, or something yet she had believed until the time of her arrest, he tolerated her.

His actions, or lack of them, since her incarceration indicated it was a threadbare tolerance. Perhaps he had petitioned the Council for an earlier execution in order for the dishonour to become a thing of the past which might fade away gradually, given time.

A grim smile split her lips. She was standing on the scaffold, not ready to die, and she was still imploring the Gods for her release and thinking about the past instead of the present and the future. There was not the crowd of people she expected. A number of Captains were missing, but her brother was there.

She had to distract herself, otherwise she would remember the moment of complete despair she'd experienced after encountering Captain Ichimaru. The man had taunted her, offering to free her and then, when for a moment she had the taste of hope, he dashed it from her. That was the moment she accepted her death was inevitable and how much she hated Captain Ichimaru. Since then she'd been making futile bargains with the Gods and distracting herself from what lay ahead, with a few brief delusional thoughts of vengeance against Captain Ichimaru when she survived.

'Will it hurt?'

She shoved the thought aside. Life was pain. Death would be quick.

Tying to dismiss the thoughts, Rukia looked at her brother. Once again, it was impossible to discern his feelings. His face seemed calm, expressionless. No emotion disturbed the smooth surface as he contemplated the view in front of him. It was evident he wasn't going to look, not a single glance in her direction. His attendance was as a Captain of the Seireitei, the Head of the noble house of Kuchiki, but not her brother.

Looking next to him and behind, she was confused. Renji. Where was he? She didn't see him anywhere and after their last discussion his absence from her execution seemed odd. His anger and bitterness might have been a spur for him to witness her death and feel a relief that his declaration had not been witnessed by anyone or his spurned love revealed to anyone but the dead recipient. Was the fading reiatsu she'd felt really his? Had he perished on this day?

The tragedy of the day increased. Her friend might be dead, how she didn't know and she wouldn't be able to gaze at his familiar and once friendly face. She almost smiled at the irony. Preparing to be executed and mourning the possible death of a lifelong friend. Was there to be no relief to the horrors she would face?

Her gaze searching further, she noticed her Captain wasn't there. Nor was Captain Ichimaru (for which she was grateful), Captain Tosen, Captain Zaraki, Captain Hitsugaya...Only three Divisions were represented. Where was everyone? How many Captains were there? It wasn't as if she wanted a large audience, but it was hard for her to understand. Had she shamed her Captain and Division to the extent they were embarrassed to attend?

Dragging her attention away from the sparse attendance, she was relieved when Captain Yamamoto told her the Ryoka would be free to return home, after her execution. Now she could die, knowing no further harm would come to her friends.

Events sped up as she finally accepted her fate.

"I love you, Ichigo," she thought, with a calmness that surprised her. "My time with you was worth this. Don't forget me."

With a strange sense of near relief, she witnessed the emergence of her executioner and waited.

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Sometimes he thought he understood his friend very well. The years they had spent together, building their friendship, working together to make the Seireitei a place of honour and respect, had been worthwhile. Occasionally dull, he'd admit freely because maintaining honour could sometimes be so very tedious.

The constraints of being a Captain sometimes irked him. The expectations for him to act a certain way, do dull paperwork, drink less, be more active and follow rules. It tired him. No one seemed happy to let him rest, his hat over his eyes while he contemplated the music of the spheres, or the back of his eyelids. It didn't matter which. When he tried to relax, he was always reminded he should be doing something else.

Yet now, he was assisting his conservative friend, the perfect example of a Captain, in doing something highly irregular. It might appear to everyone he was simply standing obediently, awaiting Rukia Kuchiki's execution, but instead he was observing the event, awaiting his chance to act.

When they'd discussed it over the previous week, he'd been astounded.

"Central 46 are wrong. I cannot argue that Rukia may have been derelict in her duty and acted in a manner not covered by any training I've encountered, but she does not deserve execution. I've spoken to her brother but he has done nothing. As her Captain, I must act. You understand?"

He nodded in response. Pretty Rukia didn't deserve to die. She had always been very polite and sweet when he talked to her. It seemed a pity to kill pretty girls because they had broken a few unimportant and, until now, ambiguous rules. She hadn't hurt anyone, except herself. If she'd been absent for a while, he could truly understand the desire to remove oneself from the Seireitei. A change. Something different. "No one else will protect her."

"Exactly. I have to do this and you have to be there to step in if I am delayed."

"Yama Ji is not going to like it."

Jushiro faced him. "I do not care if the Old Man doesn't like it. I tried to make him see reason but he refused to open his eyes."

Biting back a laugh, Shunsui said, "Making him open his eyes is like trying to make the Kenpachi less violent. It won't happen without pain."

Jushiro sighed and then began to cough. Shunsui didn't say anything, knowing that fussing around his friend often made the coughing worse. He waited, judging if it was necessary to administer medicine, or if his friend would recover by his own efforts. On this occasion, the coughing subsided and Jushiro drank some of the hot tea Shunsui had poured when he began to cough. "There is something wrong in the Seireitei. This execution is an overreaction to events and as no one else is prepared to take action, I will. The main problem is I have to wait until everyone is attending the execution so I will be unobserved. It will be close, and you may have to stall if I run out of time."

The last request/demand caused Shunsui's forehead to crease into a frown as he looked steadily at his friend. "Stall? How am I meant to stall? You know the nature of this. Stalling could make me slightly dead."

A small smile quirked Jushiro's mouth. "You have something better to do? Only yesterday I recall someone wearing that hat and coat commenting how he felt all the important events which are happening were passing him by."

It was true. He'd fought one of the Ryoka but it hadn't been a challenge. He'd felt a tiny bit irritated to be reminded and felt the same small tug of anger now while he was standing, waiting for the arrival of Jushiro or the indication he had to take sudden action. He might look as if he was simply standing there as an unwilling witness, but inside he was prepared for action. The mix of anticipation, excitement and anger was tiring, but better than doing nothing and permitting events to take care of themselves.

The Firebird King appeared and his muscles tensed as he prepared to free Rukia by any means necessary. His future as a Captain didn't mean much anymore. If he stood by and watched an unjust execution he was not the man who had joined the 13 Elite Court Guards with hope and ambition so many years ago.

The moment he was ready to leap up, his gaze was drawn to someone with flaming orange hair he'd never seen before, appearing near the scaffold. The Ryoka was wearing a long cape which he thought he recognised but had trouble placing. There was one person he'd heard of who had that distinctive colouring and with astonishment, he understood his role of saviour had been usurped.

The Ryoka who had fought and defeated the Kenpachi had appeared out of thin air and had stopped the first strike. While he marvelled at his ability, he wondered what was holding up Jushiro and also felt faintly disquieted at his new role. Simple observer was rather dull compared to noble hero. Once again he'd been sidelined from action and seemed to be simply a passive puppet.

The moment passed swiftly as Jushiro arrived and Soifong noticed what he was carrying. Intercepting her before she could summon her forces and prevent the destruction of the Sokyoku meant he could release all the pent up aggression, but first he raced and grabbed the item bearing the Shiolin family crest and placed it in the slot which had been created so many years ago. He knew this would destroy the executioner but how many times had it been used? He couldn't recall seeing it unleashed before and why did they need such a showy way of killing people? Normally they were confined to the Maggot's Nest for the rest of their lives where they might even have the chance of recovery, though it was hard to recollect anyone who had really recovered after their incarceration in the place. The one example he could think of didn't seem 'normal' even now.

The device in place he held on, feeling the vibration that shuddered through the wood, as two tongues of energy shot up into the sky, streaming toward the Kiko Oh which flamed even brighter as the energy surrounded it and then faded. It was destroyed and he had now managed to place himself in some of the greatest danger he'd ever experienced. Yama Ji was not going to be pleased with either of them and would probably try to punish them like school boys.

Now he'd proven he wasn't a passive puppet. At least he wouldn't be bored for the rest of the day, if he survived.

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Isane wondered when this particular nightmare might be over. But it was daytime, so perhaps it was a daydream but daydreams were not usually like this. She'd seem Rukia Kuchiki rescued from her execution. She was pleased not to witness her death but the way it had been done made her worried. Then, she had been knocked out by the reiatsu of the Ryoka who'd saved Rukia. How could a Ryoka wield such an immense amount of spiritual energy?

The others knocked out by the blast were recovering, she hoped.

She knew she was experiencing a reaction to the events which had happened so far on this day but her Captain had requested her company as she went to an unspecified destination. People were fighting, she could feel the peaks in the reiatsu and knew they should be there, trying to help the injured but the quiet determination shown by her Captain indicated something important was required of them both. Instead of speaking, she simply nodded and followed.

"It is as I thought," Captain Unohana murmured under her breath. "Observing but not speaking of the concerns may have helped, but now I have to act and it may be too late."

Isane shuddered as they entered the Council building, wondering why her nose twitched badly. Her breathing grew noticeably faster as they both saw the first signs of the bloodshed and bodies. The blood was dry and the smell from the decomposing bodies was enough to make her eyes water. Nothing the Captain had said to her had prepared her for this. All the other events, important though they were may have been put in action by events which had taken place here. How long ago, she didn't know.

Looking at her Captain, Isane wondered what she was thinking. She seemed as calm as normal but the speed with which she'd walked to the council building had betrayed a certain amount of agitation. Her coat had billowed behind her from the rate of her steps and even though the Captain was walking, Isane often found she was breaking into a run to keep up with her. The walk had been quiet and she often noticed a small frown marring the forehead of her captain or her front teeth momentarily clamping onto her bottom lip. For once Isane hadn't felt her legs were long enough, instead of the usual worry about what to do with her feet. Normally no outpaced her when she wanted to walk fast, but Captain Unohana appeared to be on a mission and Isane was very glad she hadn't been excluded.

One thing kept coming to her mind on their walk. The Sereitei had changed and no longer felt secure and safe. Isane had worried about the sudden changes which had occurred since Rukia had been brought back from the human world by her brother. Everything horrible seemed to start from that point and nothing made as much sense to her anymore. The unexplained deaths before Rukia's return had worried her but as they mostly took place outside the Seireitei she was able to pretend it wasn't important, yet now it was possible these were linked in with the other things which had made sense. Which events, she wasn't sure but perhaps those which seemed random and wholly unconnected might be a series of planned actions. She almost asked her captain, but the set look on her face dissuaded her. There was time to ask later, when this particular mission was over. It didn't matter. Whenever she felt very scared she spent some time simply being near her Captain who seemed to exude a feeling of safety and sense amongst all the problems.

She hadn't been thinking about where they were but she stopped short for a few seconds when she saw they were walking toward the Council building. Her shock increased when she saw the door was open and she followed Captain Unohana closely, fearing what might be inside.

The sight in the Council building was dreadful. She knew she was trying not to think of what she was viewing while many questions raced through her mind. Why were the council members dead? If they had been dead as long as the bodies indicated, who had issued the order for Rukia's execution? When had they died? Her experience indicated that these people had been dead longer than a few days. How had the killing occurred without anyone taking action?

"What happened, Captain?" she asked, hoping she would receive some reply that helped make sense of the situation.

"Betrayal," her Captain said through tight lips. "A very carefully planned mass assassination of the council. Whoever planned this had help."

"But how could they get into the building? It's supposed to be guarded. Who would want to kill the Council? It makes no sense!" Isane realised she was raising her voice as the questions spilled out of her mouth.

Captain Unohana looked at her steadily. "Take a deep breath, Isane. Life doesn't make sense. If you expect logic and reason from the substance or inhabitants of the Universe you have forgotten that with order there must be chaos. We try to create order from chaos and chaos can result from order."

Following the instructions she took a deep breath and then let it out and then another. She preferred order. Chaos was too upsetting as it meant nothing was stable or could be planned. Now she was in the midst of chaos and her mind was still struggling to make sense of everything she saw. While her fundamental reflex was to reject what she saw, in this case it wasn't possible. The council were dead and someone had been issuing orders on their behalf, for weeks or possibly longer.

"We must keep moving Isane," Captain Unohana urged. "We cannot help these poor souls but we may be able to save the living."

They raced onward, Isane following the Captain without question. The sound of fighting could be heard ahead and she wondered who was fighting and why. Then she saw a form she recognised, lying on the ground. Momo Hinamori lay on her stomach, blood seeping from a wound, possibly in her chest. The blood was spreading around her but the look of stark shock on her face made Isane wonder what, or who, had delivered the blow. Momo had not recovered from the shock of finding her Captain crucified and the accompanying emotional storm meant her actions might be dangerous for herself and others. She had already attacked Captain Ichimaru on the discovery of her Captain's body and when she had been brought to Fourth Division, calming her had proven very difficult. Captain Unohana intended to spend some time with Momo when time permitted, but up till now no time was available. What was she doing here? How had she escaped and who had attempted to kill her?

Her first instinct was to go and see if she could help but Captain Unohana, muttered a quick healing kido over the girl before she kept moving. Isane followed, hoping to find an answer to some of her questions. Then she saw Captain Hitsugaya collapsed on the floor, bleeding from multiple wounds and again she moved to help him only to seek her Captain set another quick healing kido and move onward again. "They are gravely injured and the spell will not heal them. It will only prevent them from dying for a short time. I must deal with this, now, before others are injured or killed," she heard her mutter.

Dragging her eyes away she saw two other people standing there. She blinked and then rubbed her eyes, certain they were malfunctioning because one of the people could not possibly be standing, breathing or moving. He was dead. She'd seen his body.

"I thought I'd find you here, Captain Aizen," her Captain said.

It was Captain Aizen and Captain Ichimaru. They were here? Captain Aizen wasn't dead and Isane felt very confused. How could he be alive? She'd seen his body. Her Captain had examined the body and declared it to be the Captain and the body showed no signs of life. It seemed her Captain had guessed something but hadn't told her or anyone else. But how could Captain Aizen be alive? It made no sense.

Then she remembered the words she'd heard only a few moment before. This was chaos and nothing made sense.

The thought didn't help.

Still trying to hold onto the hope of logic and reason she listened to the conversation. Sousuke Aizen accused of being a traitor! He, Tosen and Ichimaru had killed the council! Why? The revelation dawned on her these men had ordered Rukia's execution. For some reason they wanted her dead. What had she done or seen to deserve the punishment?

The men were traitors. Even though she'd heard the words, she still struggled to make sense of the disclosure. When she heard the true power of Aizen's zanpakuto, she was shocked and dismayed. They'd been hypnotised which meant reality wasn't reality. The dead body was the zanpakuto. Chaos. Order had been displaced and reason couldn't fathom the change.

How could a Captain lie? Except he wasn't a Captain. He was a traitor. Her Captain had guessed but hadn't said anything because who would believe her under the power of the hypnosis? Respect for her Captain increased even more. Now she knew why they were here. To capture the traitors and bring them to justice.

Grasping the handle of her zanpukto and wondering which type of attack might be the most successful she advanced on the smiling traitors but before they could apprehend the traitors, they'd vanished, even as she'd yelled at them to "Wait."

Isane felt dizzy. It all had to be a mistake or a joke. None of this could be real. Chaos was born from order.

"Locate them," her Captain ordered her.

Isane turned and stared at her. What did she mean? Shouldn't they follow them?

"Use kido. Locate them. Order from Chaos."

It made sense. She could help restore order to this world of anarchy. Fumbling with her hands, desperately trying to remember the words she managed to locate the traitors. Why were they at the scene of the execution? Hadn't they witnesses enough death? Did they know the execution was interrupted?

"Order from chaos, Isane," her Captain murmured. "They had a plan and we will disrupt their order with our chaos."

Then her Captain instructed her to inform all the Captains, Assistant Captain and Ryoka all they had learnt about Aizen and his cohorts as she went to try and save both Momo and Captain Hitsugaya. In the shock of disclosure, she had almost forgotten the two injured people.

Isane delivered the message, hoping, praying that someone would capture the traitors and bring back reason and logic from the mayhem which now enclosed the Seireitei.

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He'd saved Rukia. Holding onto the thought meant he knew he'd succeeded. His love was safe. Admittedly he'd thrown her at Renji, but he cared for Rukia. He'd protect her with his last breath, just as Ichigo would.

Of course Rukia had complained. Would she be Rukia if she hadn't cursed him, called him names, told him she didn't want to be rescued? If she'd agreed and politely thanked him for saving her, he'd have wondered if they'd managed to find a body double.

Rukia was safe. She wasn't going to be executed.

Her brother looked pissed.

Or maybe he always looked as if he smelt something unpleasant.

The threats the guy made against his life made him smile. The threat against Rukia did not remove the smile; it only made it grim.

Fighting someone else didn't worry him. He'd defeat anyone who threatened her life. There was no question in his mind he would succeed again and be reunited with Rukia. They would leave this place and never be apart again. He'd fought this man before and lost. The past defeat didn't matter. This time he knew for what he was fighting.

Rukia's brother was the last big threat to her life and if necessary, he would kill him. It might upset Rukia. No, it would upset Rukia, but if it was a choice between her death and the death of this unemotional, unpleasant bastard, he knew who would fall first.

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Author's Note

Wow. Amazed that I finally came back to this story and finished the chapter within a few days. For some reason Shunsui and Isane provided the inspiration and the rest followed.

One to two more chapters will finish Daydreams and with luck they will be completed within a short time frame if no rural visits, family emergencies or desperate attempts to escape the emerging heat of Summer (Summer in Australia? Urgh) interfere.

Thank you to the kind people who have taken time to review. Please review.


MS