Time flew by, like sand slipping through fingers.
When the long night swallowed the last trace of daylight, only to be driven away again by the faint glow of dawn, a full month had already hurried past.
Today was the day Kuchiki Rukia would go to the Human World to carry out her assignment. In front of the Senkaimon, she respectfully bade farewell to Captain Ukitake, who had come to see her off.
After that, she did not immediately step into the Senkaimon leading to the Human World, but instead chose to stop, standing silently in place.
The gentle spiritual light of the Senkaimon fell over her, stretching her petite figure long and thin, yet making it look all the more lonely.
She just stood there, motionless, letting the air around her slowly freeze.
A long, long time.
A full half of a quarter hour passed, yet she still did not see the two figures she so deeply longed for in her heart.
Whether it was her brother in name, the always cold and aloof Kuchiki Byakuya who still held an important place in her heart. Or Abarai Renji, who had grown up tumbling and fighting alongside her since childhood, quarreling countless times yet also keeping her company just as often.
They did not come. They did not send anyone with even a single word. They did not even let her feel the slightest desire to see her off.
The corners of Rukia's mouth lifted into a self mocking, bitter smile.
Within that smile was a kind of resigned sadness.
In the end, she chose to turn around.
That back carried a kind of fragility that would not allow anyone to touch it, yet there was not the slightest hint of attachment.
She resolutely stepped into the Senkaimon that swallowed all light.
She did not even know what she was still hoping for.
After all... she had never told them about today's schedule, had she.
She had not even notified them.
Perhaps...
"It seems that ever since Kaien-nii died by my hand, I have become this sentimental."
Her voice, within the twisted space of the Senkaimon, sounded faint and unreal.
"When all is said and done, I really am a jinx."
.
.
.
When Rukia passed through the Dangai and arrived in Karakura Town of the Human World, its bustle made her subconsciously narrow her eyes.
Looking at those towering buildings, Rukia felt even more out of place.
Whether it was the solemn Seireitei or the bustling Human World, both made her feel uncomfortable.
She did not belong here. She should be in the chaotic and poor Rukongai, living from one meal to the next.
'Oh, right now Rukongai does not seem to be poor anymore.'
'Under Captain Rosse's reforms, it is said that there are no longer any souls in Rukongai who can not get enough to eat. All souls with spiritual power are placed into a Shinigami reserve for centralized management, and the Gotei 13 would provide food and water.'
'How nice...'
'Someone like Captain Rosse is the real pillar of Soul Society, and a jinx like me really should disappear into some corner as soon as possible.'
Slash!!!
Rukia expressionlessly drew her sword and easily cut the ordinary Hollow in front of her into two pieces.
When she went all out, she was even stronger than some vice captains, but because of her state of mind, she could not bring out much of her strength.
Even so, even an unconscious swing of her blade was not something these ordinary Hollows of the Human World could compare to.
'But... Are the Hollows of the Human World really this strong?'
Rukia took two slight breaths, a trace of doubt flashing through her heart before it was quickly covered by her self blaming emotions.
This was already the tenth Hollow she had killed in a single day since taking over in the Human World.
Almost every Hollow was close to Gillian level.
Although for her it was still just one slash, for ordinary Shinigami it would already cause quite a bit of trouble.
'But... it does not matter. Trash like this, however many there are, I can kill them all.'
And at this moment, not far away, watching the short girl fly off, Ichigo Kurosaki, dressed in a high school uniform, frowned.
"Tch! This new Shinigami's strength is alright, but her brain seems a bit off."
Rukia killing Hollows had just happened right in front of him, so of course he had seen everything clearly.
After all, ordinary people without spiritual power could not see spirits and Hollows, so Rukia naturally had no need to hide.
But with Ichigo Kurosaki's strength trained by Aizen, he was not just seeing the battle. In fact, he saw much more.
He could roughly tell that the short onion headed girl had something on her mind. Her technique against enemies was shockingly crude, and every swing wasted at least half of her spiritual pressure.
If she kept going like this, she would soon run out of spiritual pressure.
Thinking of this, kind hearted Ichigo Kurosaki could not help but feel a bit guilty.
In truth, the Hollows in Karakura Town were of course not this high level.
It was only because, after his repeated requests, his teacher Aizen had released some specially made Hollow bait, which would subtly make the Hollows appearing in Karakura Town stronger.
He was not worried about the Hollows harming people. With that very strong Quincy around, something like that simply could not happen.
Ichigo Kurosaki also never expected that his high school classmate's dad was actually such a hidden expert.
If it had not been for one time when Teacher Aizen asked that man to teach him some Quincy related knowledge, he would have never known.
Daytime quickly passed, and night arrived.
After an afternoon of Shinigami training, Ichigo Kurosaki left the training grounds satisfied and headed home.
Before he even reached his front door, his steps suddenly stopped, and he sharply turned to look behind him to the right.
There, a giant Hollow suddenly appeared, stretching out its claws as it lunged at him.
Although he was still in his physical body, with some small gadgets from Aizen, even in this state he could use all of a Shinigami's power.
With his current spiritual pressure, trash Hollows like this could not even break his defense.
Come to think of it, he had never actually tried using spiritual pressure to defend.
Every time he cut at Teacher Aizen, the guy liked to use spiritual pressure to block, making his attacks have no effect at all. Every time he watched that, he thought it was pretty cool.
This time, it was his turn to show off.
Looking at the claws getting closer and closer, Ichigo Kurosaki showed an excited expression.
At this moment, he had no mind to pay attention to anything else, or rather, under the influence of some ability, he simply could not notice the figure suddenly rushing in from the side.
"Danger!"
A sharp female voice suddenly rang out, and right after that, Ichigo Kurosaki stared blankly as the short onion headed Shinigami he had seen earlier suddenly rushed in between him and the Hollow.
At this distance, he had no time to do anything else.
If he drew his sword now, he would inevitably cut both the onion head and the Hollow together.
That instant of hesitation finally led to tragedy.
Rip!
The claws pierced through Rukia's abdomen, blood spraying out, even splashing onto Ichigo's face.
In that instant, Ichigo finally moved.
"Hey! If you do not have the ability, why are you showing off?"
Cursing as he spoke, he hurriedly picked Rukia up and used a flash step to retreat backward.
Compared to that trash Hollow in front of him, Rukia's safety was obviously what deserved his attention more.
[T/N: I hope you all are enjoying and if you are, please do give some reviews, be it bad or good, and keep commenting in the chapters to let me know that there are actually people reading it. It makes my day and I really read every single comment that comes on every one of the books. Have a nice day, y'all~]