Chapter 28. Death of a traitor.

The atmospheric tensions remained at a highest steak as few of the medical facility teams rushed Ichitaro's fragile body into the hospital room, by using a stretcher, hoping they'll reduce his burning fever to normal.

Many soul reapers were anxious, but at the same time, they were curious when they once knew that spirit demons were extinct for a long time.

Yet, Ichitaro's existence could mean there might be hope that they're others like him and are out there somewhere in the world of the living and someone must've saved them. Zen and Iruka were captivated, yet had to take him away from this place - if the Head Captain approved this matter.

" Ugh, great.", Iruka grunted with frustration, " Now we're going to ask an old man's permission for this shit? "

" We might have no other alternatives, Iruka. Besides, this place is heavily guarded and taking him would be like cutting your own throat in vain."

" Yeah, you're right. I need a good night rest after staying up all night with you trying to figure out why were these red lines are for. I guess Kazumi dragged us here for nothing."

They immediately retreated in a peaceful manner. By the time Pedro struggling to wiggle himself free from Iruka's grip, he was placed on the floor and one of the soul reaper captain asked :

" Hey, what should we do with him?"

" I don't know. He might be an intruder for Kazumi or something. " Iruka answered.

That's until he grabbed Pedro's entire body and threw him towards one of captains before leaving. With no possible answers whatsoever, they had no choice but sending him towards the Senzaikyū along with Deki, Kakuzu and the other demon traffickers. However, mysterious questions remained unanswered.

" I wonder what's happening these days. First, we were attacked by fallen angels and now this? A spirit demon inside the Soul society? " Captain Ukitake asked.

" Now that you've mentioned it. How come a spirit demon like him could ended up in here and ran away after a vicious assault we've had yesterday, only to have returned for a treatment? " One of the captains answered.

" I guess we'll never know. We'll have to figure things out ourselves then."

All of the remaining captains nodded with agreement. That's when Zaraki noticed Ikkaku ambled his way searching for Ichitaro somewhere in the hospital room.

" HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!? " He shouted.

" Uhm n.. nothing much, Zaraki. Just checking if Feng Huang is available." He answered.

" For what reason? Miss Feng isn't available until a sound of the rooster can be heard all the way to the 8th division. Only her egg headed brother is available." Kenpachi scoffed.

" Oh.. I was trying to find where her cousin was. I heard she was injured pretty badly."

" You're trying to find Ramune at this time? "

By the time Ikkaku was this close on answering Zaraki, which almost shook his entire body, he slowly nodded his head and simply answered:

" Yes."

" Hmm. Now I get it. You want to talk to Captain Kyoraku's wife on something. Like what had happened here while you're fast asleep or that time when you went missing two nights ago." Kenpachi stated.

" No, it's not like that, Captain Zaraki. I was here this whole time and I had a splitting headache, for fuck sake. So, I decided to take a nap and hope it'll go away."

" Very well. You're dismiss, but if I find out you're onto something or you're involved into this, I'll make sure you'll pay for this. That's because I'm a warrior and your captain, that doesn't mean I'm dumb. I'll investigate this matter myself!" He demanded.

Muted and vexed after sometime, Captain Zaraki walked away from the outside of the assembly hall. The remaining captains were flustered as they starred at him in doubt. As for Ikkaku, his confidence transformed into agitation, yet in a limbo between keeping the lies and saving Ichitaro from dying.

~~~~~~~~

{ RUKIA'S POV }

Inside a private hospital room, Ichitaro was lying on the bed along with an oxygen pipe strapped around his nose and his eyes remained shut. His forehead was covered with a clean grey cloth. Next to his bed was Rukia, who still couldn't stop glancing at him and felt uneasy about his condition. His right leg was infused with blood stains on the bandage towards his black kimono and red inflamed skin that was uncomfortable.

When the door was opened, a man in his mid 20s arrived. Wearing an ancient chinese turquoise and white silk clothing. His ebony long and smooth hair had almost reached his backside and his walnut eyes were shimmering throughout the room. He looked at Ichitaro at first, then Rukia noticed the man standing right at the doorstep. Amazed to find her next to Ichitaro, the figure asked:

" Oh, lieutenant Kuchiki. I see you're still worried about the patient. How are you feeling?"

" Lord Zhong, I didn't noticed that you're there. I'm actually alright.", Rukia answered as she looked at the figure. Then later asked.," Can I ask you something?"

" Sure. You can ask me whatever questions you like." Zhong answered.

"Well, I'm still waiting for Captain Unohana. Is she available or is she busy with the other patient?"

" Wait, you haven't heard from her after a vicious annihilation from the fallen angels, have you?" Zhong asked.

Rukia simply shook her head, yet protected Unohana's secret regarding on Ichitaro. Unknowingly, Zhong explained to her in a dejected, polite manner :

" Unfortunately for Captain Unohana, she was suffering from an exhaustion after an attack from the Rukongai district that had occurred, which was strange. She's currently in her bed, resting. As soon as she's gathering her physical strength, she'll be back. But for now, I'm her replacement."

Rukia remained silent and felt wrenched with remorse when she learnt a devastating news about Captain Unohana. What was more worrisome to her, was when the secret about Ichitaro's spirit energy was revealed towards Captain Yamamoto and the others, even though she'd to wait until he's awakened then leave before Ichigo's arrival.

Just as she got up and said nothing but gloomy silence, Rukia felt a slight spirit energy, like a bullet piercing through her brain, yet couldn't created a sharper pain. When she turned around, Ichitaro was heavily breathing and eye balls were moving around inside his eyelids and murmured someone's name into almost unheard. From that moment, Rukia felt completely terrified.

In a total panic, Zhong actively goes towards Ichitaro and commanded:

" Lieutenant Kuchiki, you have to leave. "

" Wait, what? No. He needs me." She answered.

Zhong placed his hand on her shoulder and spoke in a reassured tone:

" I know. But I need to run some more tests and try to save his life. Don't despair, lieutenant Kuchiki. He's in good hands."

That's until Rukia simply headed out towards the door and waited until he was done. Not knowing what the outcome might be, she sat down on the floor until a mixture of dread and tears of sadness began flowing right in her eyes as she covered her mouth and her entire body were overwhelmed by terror.

~~~~~~~

{ ICHITARO'S POV }

I'm his dream, everything was smothered in nothing but darkness. Ichitaro glimpsed everywhere for the same dream he previously had. But, there's nothing left, not even that same child he once saw where he was unconscious at the abandoned mine.

He kept on glimpsing into the verge of a neverending darkness until he spotted, what it appears to be a girl child like figure, sitting in the corner with its entire body facing through the wall. She was sobbing uncontrollably. Ichitaro noticed the child by it's bold red coloured hair and wore a pre- school sailor uniform.

" Priscilla, Is that you? " He asked. When he drew closer, a gush of bloody water drew closer to his shoes. He froze and stared with wide eyes and raised his eyebrows. Feeling emotionally numb,he attempted to stepped away from her, but a spine-chilling disembodied voice was heard.

" You're going to leave, like you always do, aren't you?" Cried a voice.

Ichitaro remained numb and his voice was nearly muted when he saw a little girl spoke to him. He curled his lips and shaky. As the little girl turned around, Ichitaro's memories were flooded with blood. The little girl's bloody tears, mucus and saliva were on her cheeks, nose and mouth. Her school uniform were torn as if she was lashed by a whip all over her body.

Ichitaro wanted to leave as his heartbeat was faster than normal, but couldn't stop looking at her. As the blood was flooded over his head, Ichitaro tried to swim his way out, but the current was so strong that its wave, eventually, swallowed him along with the little girl...

~~~~~~~

Once Ichitaro rapidly woke up, he was shaking and had a cold sweat. He breathed heavily and his heart was racing fast. Zhong tried calming him down,by placing his hand on his chest and a green tea colour appeared from it. It created a relaxing tone and Ichitaro began calming himself down, as a result from it.

His breathing went back to normal and so does his heart. Suddenly, he felt like a world was spinning out of control, which led Zhong placing him back against pillows on his head.

" Hey, there. Are you alright?" He asked.

" W... where am I? " Ichitaro slowly panted.

" Don't worry, you're safe."

Ichitaro lifted his left arm and placed his hand on his forehead to remove a piece of cloth. He glanced at Zhong removing his hand from him in a flustered manner. Then suddenly, a knock on the door was heard and when Zhong looked at who was knocking, two figures standing there.

One of the figure was a taller than the other. The male figure had yellow hair and a side fringe that covered his left face along with his turquoise eyes. However, due to the impact of an attack by the fallen angels, he was brutally assaulted and ending up having a left leg injury and had to use a crutch.The other female figure had no injuries at all. She has a shoulder- length black hair covered with a small white bonnet on her bun along with her odango fringe. Her eyes were dark grey in colour, but it doesn't match Zhong's .

Both of them were seemed horrified by something they've saw as if they were ` magically` turned into white. Baffled by their appearance, he looked at them and asked:

" Lieutenant Izuru, lieutenant Hinamōri. You two look like you've seen a ghost, what became of you?" He enquired.

" Lord Zhong, there has been a horrendous accident that happened in Mukēn* and I...I....I couldn't even describe the horrors I've seen. " Momo trembled.

' Could this traitor had succeeded again? If so, then what was his plan before he could escape and annihilate the Soul society yet again?', He wondered, worried about his prediction whether or not Aizan had found a way to leave Mukēn and recruited his plan on destroying the spirit world.

He then ordered both Izuru and Momo, " Alright, then. Lieutenant Izuru, you stay here and guard the patient until either lieutenant Koketsu, Lieutenant Kuchiki or Captain Unohana enter here, if she's getting better. Unless the patient has any relatives. Lieutenant Hinamōri, come with me."

Without any questions, they simply agreed and followed Zhong's instructions. Izuru remained behind, while Zhong and Momo were heading out and pinpointed a location where Mukēn was. Izuru watched as the two of them exited from the hospital, leaving Rukia and ample of time to check up on Ichitaro, who's body still having dizziness.

Feeling concerned, Rukia simply asked:

" Ichitaro, are you alright?"

" A little bit. " Ichitaro answered and looked around in confusion "Where am I and how did I ended up in here?"

" You're in a Soul society. Don't worry about the fallen angels. They aren't attacking the Soul society anymore. "

" Oh, great." He said. By then, he felt something was running around in his stomach, as if every food and drink he'd had last night, came in and crawled towards his mouth. The minute he wanted to throw up, Rukia couldn't find anything to hold all of his vomit, until she saw a smaller bucket.

She almost staggered when taking the bucket and gave it to him, leaving him to threw up everything he had eaten. He covered his mouth with a cloth as he coughed and splattered, while Rukia was rubbing his back. Izuru looked sympathetic towards him and said:

" I'll get him some water."

" Izuru, what about your condition? Don't forget that you're injured." Rukia asked, she turned towards him in a worrisome manner.

" Don't worry about me, I'll manage."

" No, I can't allow you to do this. Just guard Ichitaro for me, I'll grab some water. "

" Oh, okay. Wait, who's Ichitaro? R.. Rukia?!"

Izuru shouted when Rukia finally left and sighed in frustration afterwards.

Within a moment later, he noticed Ikkaku shook his head from left to right. In disgust, Izuru yelled:

" Ikkaku! You're either a brazen or an idiot to be here, what do you want this time ?!"

" Oh hey, Izuru Kira. Umm have you seen a kid with blonde hair and blue eyes in here?" He nervously chuckled.

" What do you want from him?"

" Well...."

That's until Yachiru popped right at the corner and smirked.

' So, baldy knows that kid too. I have to tell Kenny.' she thought before disappearing from the shadowy corner.

~~~~~~~

MEANWHILE...

Deep in the underground of the Senzaikyū, stands at least three people, two are male and one is a female. One wore a feminine ancient chinese bubble gum pink robe along with three golden ornamental hairpins on her brunette hair. The one of the two wore a loose sapphire blue robe with a scruffy medium length pearl hair in colour. The last one wore a neat fire brick red rope along with a green jade hairpin on his dark brown hair.

Zhong noticed they were as flabbergasted as he was.

" I assumed you saw something?" He asked.

" Well...I was ordering Momo some food when she saw this. And when she told me what happened, we were just checking up and we saw him laying like this. Zhong, I think that..... Sosuke Aizan, the traitor is dead. Someone must've killed him" The lady answered.

" Are you sure, Lady Xià Xuê? Because I'm not sensing any of his hypnosis powers." Zhong asked.

" Lady Xià Xuê will never lie. There was no signs of any pin on his head to show the real person who died. Whoever killed him, must have the spirit of a dead soul reaper. But no one got in or out." Said the first male figure.

" Then it must be an ` inside job ` . " Zhong stated. As he looked closer towards the inside of the Mukēn, he was horrified as he saw a body of a man in his 30s was lying down on the floor with blood stains. He had multiple slices on his head, neck, arms and torso.

Immediately, he ordered three of them as Hinamōri covered her mouth in shock and grief :

" Lady Xià Xuê, take lieutenant Hinamōri out of there. Hēimâ, Qīngtíng, tell every captain, including Shīfú. Tell them....the traitor is dead."