5 Chapter: 05

His body trembled.

The images of the past appear within his mind.

It was raining. And he was naught but a child back then.

He still remembered it vividly—a petite body, shinigami clothes, lifeless and emotionless gaze, her face was decorated with red blood, some splashes of it present on her clothes.

She had her sword unsheathed in her right hand, her left hand tightly gripping the collar of another shinigami's clothes—he was dead. His body was being dragged on the wet floor leaving behind a trail of blood behind.

It was his brother.

The kind and gentle brother who was nothing but another cold corpse within her hand.

With a look that didn't care nor hold any emotions within her voice, she threw the body of his brother, her words reverberated within his mind.

"I killed him."

Ganju's eyes trembled as he tightly clenched his fists. His mind barely holds onto his sanity to make sure he doesn't lose himself to his increasing anger.

"You…" He gritted his teeth. Taking a step forward, he forcefully gripped her collar and jerked her towards him. "You!"

Rukia didn't say anything. She knew who he was, that is why she didn't say anything and remained silent; turning her head to the side, she didn't dare to meet his anger-filled gaze.

"Ganju-san! What are you doing?!" Hanataro shouted, clenching Ganju's hand and shaking him, trying to make him lose hold of his grip. "We are here to save Rukia-san!"

"As if!" Ganju snarled out in anger. "As if I will save the person who killed my brother!"

Hanataro's eyes widened, not understanding what was going on.

"What are you—"

"Hanataro." Rukia softly called out to him, causing him to turn his shaking gaze towards her, and shook her head. She looked toward Ganju apathetically and emotionlessly. "You can kill me. I won't stop you."

Same look. Same emotionless look. Same apathetic voice. It only reasoned to fuel Ganju's anger but before he could do anything before Hanataro said anything, and before Rukia could close her eyes to accept her fate to die at the hand of the person whose brother she killed, their bodies stiffened.

"Oh my. What a heart-touching moment. I feel like a jerk interrupting here."

Their gaze turned back, towards where the sound came from. Their face turned pale as they stared at the smirking captain standing at the entrance of the bridge, looking towards them—though they could not tell seeing how slitted his eyes were.

"Please. Do not mind me. Carry on with what you were doing. I am naught but a passer-by."

"... Hanataro." Ganju called out the timid and horrified teenager as sweat trickled down his cheek. "Who is he?"

Hanataro gulped hard as words left his trembling lips.

"3rd Division Captain… Ichimaru Gin!"

"Fuck!"

…

'Well, isn't this a perfect opportunity? I had planned for a later time, but I guess this will work too seeing how Ichigo should also be coming here. Makes my work easy.'

Honestly, despite Hogyoku being a boring weapon to him without any real usage, Gin still wouldn't let it go knowing its value. The number of zeros was almost going over the horizon!

A weapon that can fulfill desires and ascend a being to a higher realm, surely he can make a perfect trade with what he has in mind. But he needed it first. And he wasn't willing to take half defective products either.

So some… steps needed to be taken. And he was here to take the first step.

He calmly stood at his place, his usual expression of smirk adorning his face as he stared at how Ganju and Hanataro were fighting among themselves about whether to run or fight while Rukia had already lost hope as she stared at Gin with her trembling body.

It couldn't be helped.

After all, Gin was the most feared captain for Rukia to the point where just being in his presence seemed to take a load out of her mind. It was already a miracle how she was holding on despite having no Spiritual Energy to protect within her body right now.

Finally, they seemed to come to some sort of agreement as Ganju walked before Gin with a smirk on his face. Despite the fact that his body was trembling, he doesn't seem to hold any thought of running away any longer.

Quite an admirable trait, if Gin had to say so himself.

"If you want to get to them, you will have to go past me!" He shouted, almost making Gin chuckle.

"Well, though I do applaud you for your bravery," Ganju's eyes widened as the voice of Gin came from his behind, prompting him to turn around abruptly to see Gin with his chin placed on Rukia's shoulder as his hands hung down at her body. "I suggest you pick your opponents only after getting enough information on them or you will not know how you died… Don't you think so too, Kuchiki-san?"

Rukia's body trembled. And despite Gin's hand over her stomach, almost as if he was hugging her, she didn't dare to fight back.

"See? Gin looked toward Ganju and smirked. "Kuchiki-san seemed to understand it."

"You bas—"

[Sho] — Before Ganju could finish his sentence, a shock wave burst over his face causing him to blast straight away backward. Bouncing once or twice over the bridge before he landed outside of it. His face was a mess with his nose broken and blood dripping down from it.

"I am quite invested in Kido these days. Though this one was a very basic spell, apparently, if you put enough Reiatsu then even the basic spell can be terrifying."

"Ganju-san!" Hanataro shouted and ran towards Ganju in hope of treating his injuries.

Gin didn't stop him. Instead, he turned his focus back on Rukia as he softly whispered.

"Isn't friendship beautiful, Kuchiki-san?" He asked, ignoring the tremble within the poor soul as he pointed his finger towards Hanataro who was healing Ganju. "Look. What a pure and beautiful friendship. I heard that Ryoko has come to rescue you. Betting their lives, they bravely bragged to Seireitei in hope of saving you from your pending death. Just like how a hero saves a heroine."

"It would be sad to see them dying, one by one, don't you think so too?"

"Captain… Ichi… maru…" She was having trouble breathing right now. She wanted to run away and not look back. She wanted to escape from the grip of the snake that stood behind her but she could do nothing but quietly listen to him.

"Just like how you killed Kaien Shiba, this time, are you going to do the same? Kill all your friends that have come to save you with pure motives? Kuchiki-san, how cold-hearted of you."

"I… I didn't ask them to come…" Rukia answered, trying to find a hole to escape from the guilt that seemed to start engulfing her heart in darkness.

"But they did come for you."

Gin answered.

"Or is that how you ran away from your responsibilities? I didn't kill Kaien. No. I saved him. If I didn't kill him then he would have become a hollow and killed other people, that's why what I did was to save him and others. I am not wrong. I am right."

"Kuchiki-san… Why are you running? In truth, you are the one to blame. It was you who killed Kaien Shiba and now it is also going to be you who will kill all her friends."

"STOP!... Stop… Please…" She begged as her legs gave away and she fell to her knees, guilt already creeping within her chest to the point where she found it hard to breathe.

Gin's smirk widened. It was as if he was enjoying this sadistic pleasure that he was given by seeing other people in pain.

"It's alright. Even if the whole world blames you, I will never do so." He bent down and gently hugged her, causing Rukia's body to go stiff before tears started to stem down her eyes. "Cry. Cry your heart out."

His voice seemed to become gentler with each passing second and his touch seemed to give her a feeling of home, Rukia cried. She could not suppress her bottled-up feelings any longer as all of them burst out of her mouth in the form of a loud cry that seemed to shake Hanataro and Ganju as they looked toward Rukia.

"Sheeesh. What a poor thing." After a minute or so, seeing that she had calmed down, he pulled her back a little as he softly wiped her tears away. He raised his hand and a contract appeared within his hand with a pad submerged in black ink.

"Rukia…" He called out to her lovingly to the point where an outsider might think that they were lovers, making Rukia's face redden as Gin's azure eyes stare down at her with gentleness enough to drown the world. "How about you sign this? If you do so, I will make sure your friends are not killed but are able to get out alive from THIS PLACE."

"Captain… Ichimaru?" Rukia called out to him with confusion and hope.

"I promise." Gin answered with a serious gaze. "Even if I have to sacrifice my life in doing so, I will make sure it happens."

Well, technically, he might lose his life if he failed so he wasn't lying but it seemed to leave a completely different impression on the petite girl as she felt her heartbeat getting faster and faster. Without giving it a thought, it was as if her hands moved unconsciously, Rukia signed the contract that vanished in the burst of light.

"Good girl." Gin's smile widened as he patted her head, making Rukia lower her head, too ashamed to look up into his eyes.

"Ichimaru Gin… What are you doing?" The sudden voice called out for everyone's attention as they all looked towards the new entry—Kuchiki Byakuya!

'Ah. Is the time up?' After coming here, Gin had spent some money to lock the space around this place to stop any form of Reiatsu from leaking to make sure no one disturbed him, but the space lock was temporary—he didn't have money to lock it permanently anyway nor did he need to do s0—and it seems that Byakuya who was nearest felt the Reiatsu and came to check what it was.

'Well, not that it matters since I am already done with what I have come to do.'

"Captain Kuchiki… Well, isn't it a surprise to meet you here." Gin smiled as he stood up, softly pushing Rukia to her legs who also stood up, still shocked to see her brother as she reflexively hid behind Gin. "What brings you here on a fine day?"

"I do not have time to play this trivial game of yours." Byakuya's eyes narrowed seeing Rukia's behavior as his Reiatsu burst out of his body, stiffening the body of everyone but Gin. "I won't repeat myself after this. What are you doing?"

The space between Gin and Byakuya started to bend as their Reiatsu clashed with each other, trying to dominate each other.

Of course, if Gin wanted, he could easily crush Byakuya's Reiatsu. After all, he had fully assimilated the powers of Mimihagi within his body. It wouldn't be wrong to say that he had the strongest Reiatsu after the Soul King and Yhwach himself!

'Well, end-game Aizen should also be able to surpass me but that ain't happening this time so meh.'

Just when Byakuya was about to attack, Ukitake appeared between both of them as his Reiatsu blasted both of their Reiatsu away.

"You two… What are you doing?" Ukitake asked with a frown.

"Captain Ukitake!" Rukia seeing her captain called out, making Ukitake look towards her as a gentle smile formed over his face.

"How have you been, Rukia-kun?"

'Is he being sarcastic here? I can't tell…' Gin wondered internally when he heard Ukitake's question.

"Captain Ukitake… What is the meaning of this?" Byakuya inquired with a frown.

"I should be the one asking that, Kuchiki-san. Fight between captains is prohibited. What you are doing is breaking the law right now."

Hearing him, Byakuya's frown deepened further, not finding any excuse to refute what Ukitake said.

"And you too, Gin, stop playing with other people's feelings." Ukitake answered, seeing Rukia tightly holding Gin's Haori as she seemed to shield herself behind him.

"You hurt my feelings, Ukitake-san. You won't find anyone more sincere than me in this whole world."

Ukitake almost scoffed at what Gin said. Sincere my ass!

"Well, since there isn't anything else to do, I will take my leave." Gin answered as he softly entangled himself from Rukia, much to her disappointment, as he walked by Ukitake and Byakuya, reaching Ganju and Hanataro. "I will take these two with me to be prisoned."

He had a contract to fill after all!

Just then, all three captains stopped as another Reiatsu appeared, startling both Ukitake and Byakuya.

"This is… Captain-Level Reiatsu!" Ukitake exclaimed with surprise not because it was captain-level but the fact that he couldn't tell who this Reiatsu belonged to! It was an unknown signature!

Gin also turned around to see Ichigo flying from below the bridge rising high in the sky before coming down and landing behind Rukia, stunning everyone.

"Ichigo—" Rukia was about to call out to him but she stopped as Ichigo ignored her and ran past her towards Hanataro and Ganju.

"Hanataro… Ganju… sorry… for leaving everything to you guys."

"Ichigo-san…" Tears welled up within Hanataro's eyes as he hurriedly recounted everything that had happened so far.

Ichigo nodded his head and patted Hanataro's shoulder.

"I understand. Leave everything to me."

Seeing Ichigo saying that, Gin almost laughed out loud.

'Leave everything to me, he says… There has to be a limit to delusions but god this dude doesn't know them doesn't he?'

Gin could feel his hand itch to bitch slap Ichigo but he stopped himself from doing so. He still had his use and Gin didn't want to interrupt Aizen's plan either… not yet at least.

"Yo! Rukia!" He finally turned around and smirked at Rukia. "I am here to save you!"

"Ichigo…" Rukia looked at him before she felt a vein bursting within her head, remembering what Gin had just told to her, she almost slapped him on the face for dragging the lives of so many people with him. "But I didn't ask for it!"

"So what?" Ichigo ignored her before he turned around, looking toward Byakuya and Gin, a smirk forming over his face. "I will listen to your complaints after I rescue you. For now, go and find some corner to cry and beg for help or something!"

"Who is begging!?"

"Hahahaha! Isn't he a funny person, Captain Ukitake?"

"Gin…" Ukitake frowned seeing Gin's smirk, knowing nothing good is going to come out of it.

"Just wait for me to beat your ass. We will see who is laughing then." Ichigo said much to Gin's amusement as he shrugged his shoulders.

"I would love to spend some time with you, but I am a busy person. So I will take these two with me." Gin said as he appeared beside Hanataro and Ganju, stunning Ichigo as he propelled towards Gin.

"As if I will let you!"

"Well…" Gin looked towards him as he picked Ganju and Hanataro, dragging them away with him. "I wasn't asking for your permission."

CLANG

Ichigo's eyes widened as he stared at Byakuya, who stopped his sword, with anger in his eyes.

"For a pathetic human, I praise you for coming out alive from my attack back in the Human World." Byakuya said without any change in his expression as he pushed Ichigo backward. "But fret not. I shall not make the same mistake as I did back in the past."

He said as he raised his sword vertically in front of him, making Ichigo frown.

[Scatter: Senbonzakura]

"Ichigo! Run!" Rukia shouted seeing her brother's action, knowing full well what was coming, but it seemed that Ichigo didn't have any plans for doing so.

But just when Byakuya's sword was about to scatter, his eyes widened as he stared at his bandaged sword and the person who sealed it.

"Yo, Kuchiki boy. It's been a while, isn't it?"

Byakuya's eyes narrowed as he stared at the tanned woman.

"Yoruichi…"

…

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