Hello! Before you start reading there are a few things you should probably know about this story. Just like 'No Place To Call Home' this will be a oneshot collection. Right now I don't know if those oneshots will be connected to each other, though I can already tell you that I've planned about eight chapters for this story. There might be more or less, but that's the plan for now.

As some of you might have noticed, my updates have become very sporadic. Unfortunately, that won't change for a while. I'm currently in my last year of high school and my exams will be starting soon, so I just won't have enough time to update everything regularly. I hope you can all understand that.

Anyway, this is probably the longest chapter I have ever written. With 7.5k it's even longer than the first chapter of 'To Rule The World'.

If you're a new reader then you might have already noticed that I really like promoting my stories. Right now I have thirteen ongoing stories, so if you like this one, you should probably check out some of them.

Please leave a review.

Summary: She hasn't always been so bitter. (Or: In which a young girl dies and wakes up inside the mindscape of Kuchiki Byakuya.) [SI, Self-Insert/OC-Insert as femSenbonzakura]

Have fun.

For Thine Is The Kingdom

Part I: Zanpakutō

Chapter 1

A Lover

''And if you don't like me, as I do you;

I understand.

Because who would really choose a daisy, in a field of roses?''

— Julie Martinez

.

.

"Scatter, Senbonzakura."

.

.

.

I.

Theirs was a long and complicated story.

Spanning over centuries, it never quite found an end.

In comparison to that, their beginning was truly simple. It started with the death of a girl and the birth of a boy.

II.

Claire was diagnosed with cancer when she was eleven.

Neuroblastoma.

It was a form of cancer that normally developed in children who were years younger than Claire. The doctors said she was a rare case and that she would not survive for more than three years.

She died a few months after her fifteenth birthday.

III.

The breathing problems were the first sign.

Other painful symptoms followed.

Sometimes, Claire regretted trying to fight.

IV.

Heaven. Hell. Reincarnation.

Those were all options she had considered before her death. However, Claire had never imagined that she was going to end up trapped in the mind of a newborn child.

Neither did she ever consider the possibility of somehow tripping into a fictional world.

V.

She found herself in a limbo of sorts.

A limbo that started to change as the time passed.

(...later, the girl would realize that the world around her was no limbo but the mind scape of an infant and that her surroundings showed the state of his being...

...

...the white simplicity reflected his young age and changed when he started to notice and explore the world he had been born into...)

First there was the sky. It colored her otherwise bleak world cerulean blue and was more beautiful than anything she had ever seen. Sometimes, large clouds hid some parts of the magnificent abyss and added a the third color to her new prison.

After the sky came a field of wild flowers. It grew slowly, and yet she noticed every tiny change in her little world. A lush green blade of grass on her right and the wee stem of a flower on her left.

Green, she loved green.

As the time progressed, the stem grew and a tiny purple poppy-mallow bloomed at its end. Five mauve colored petals surrounded a lavender pistil, none of them larger than her thumb.

Purple was soon joined by yellow, red, pink and many other colors.

The world around her kept changing and so did she.

VI.

There was nothing more horrible than being alone.

VII.

While new flowers grew each day, no sentient being appeared in her gilded cage.

Claire might have enjoyed spending some time by herself, but this isolation was not what she had in mind. Being completely alone for what felt like years crippled the girl in many ways. Once an optimist, she had now become a very pessimistic and pragmatic person that would have done anything for the the company of even an insect.

Bitterness welled up inside her chest at the thought of her family and an angry question constantly danced across her mind.

Why was she the one who had to suffer?

To escape her current situation, Claire would have been willing to doom anyone. When she had been still alive, such a thought would have been inconceivable. Sentencing her own family to the hell that had been her illness was something she could have never done, but this isolation was a completely new level of horror.

Claire would have preferred being ill once again to being trapped in this accursed afterlife.

At the very least she would not have been alone then.

VIII.

She slept a lot since the day she had died.

There wasn't much else to do after the novelty of the growing flowers wore off. She slept and slept and lost all feelings of time. The world around her kept changing and her future namesake grew in the middle of her field.

A giant cherry blossom tree with branches that seemed to be reaching out to the heavens and lovely pinkish blossoms. Its dark bark added brown into her color spectrum and was comfortable enough to lean against.

When a mild breeze sometimes swept through her home, the soft blossoms danced through the air and presented her with a wonderful spectacle.

After a while, they blended into the background just like everything else did.

IX.

She found a sharp stone once and used it to cut the skin of her wrists.

Blood tainted her kimono.

Claire did not die.

X.

''What the...,'' she murmured and rubbed her eyes in confusion. Slowly, the girl used her elbows to change her position, eyes squinting at the bright sun above her. Body trembling with anticipation, Claire leaned her back against the bark of her favorite cherry blossom tree.

Another breeze ruffled the lush green grass bellow her. It tickled her exposed ankles and made her frown in confusion.

The bright sun shone at her face and reminded her of how much she missed the night. It had been so long since she had last seen the starry night sky. There were a lot of things she missed from her life. They ranged from small things like her favorite hairbrush and food to the presence of another human being.

Carefully rising to her feet, the girl took in her surroundings. Nothing seemed to be out of place until...

...

...until she finally turned around and looked behind the large tree...

...

...

...only to be greeted by the sight of a traditional Japanese house that had not been there when she was last awake.

It stood behind the cherry blossom tree and immediately made her think of some age old nobility. Built of polished mahogany colored wood, it possessed delicate looking shoji screens. Claire was no architectural expert, but she knew that creating the house's top must have been really difficult.

The roof was big and seemed to be made of about four separate parts that protected the inside of the house and its porch from rain and other natural occurrences.

Almost hesitantly, Claire looked down at herself and judged her own appearance.

Dressed in her expensive clothes—She did not know when, but somewhere along the way she had acquired a silk kimono.—and standing near that house, the girl felt as if she had entered another era or one of those old Japanese movies. Feeling slightly uncomfortable, she dusted off the boldly colored kimono and turned towards the house.

She had long since given up on the hope of meeting someone else in this godforsaken prison, but she still wished for something to be there. Some clue as to where she was or at least a book that could help quench her boredom.

Her bare feet prickled as she walked across the lush green grass. Moving in her attire had become as natural as anything could get. She raised the bottom of her long kimono as she walked, trying to prevent dirtying it. Her anticipation heightened once she finally reached the house. A nervous intake of air later, she started climbing the thigh-high porch.

The wood felt nice under her bare feet and she paused for a second, wiggling her toes slightly childishly. The bottom of her kimono touched the ground once again and the girl moved forward.

Smooth shoji screens were easily slid open and the interior of the house surprised her. There was almost no furniture in the large room, only a low table with four crimson cushions surrounding it.

The thing that caught her attention, however, was the long sword that laid upon the table.

If she wasn't mistaken, then it was a high quality katana.

Panic and fear crawled up her spine as a long forgotten instinct whispered into her ear.

It was still too early.

XI.

A firefly appeared a few inches away from her face and there were more of them not far away.

Tears gathered in her eyes as her world blurred into hues of navy blue and black, sprinkled with an endless amount of tiny shining dots. The girl moved her head to the right, hoping yet failing to catch sight of another miracle. The scene did not change no matter where she looked, but she could not have cared any less.

(...later, she would find out that she had been watching the world through someone else's eyes...)

There was a fire before her, its warmth contrasting heavily with the cool air.

Meat, there was the taste of slightly charred meat on her tongue.

How long had it been since she had last eaten something?

XII.

She started hearing foreign voices.

XIII.

''What...''

An innocent question asked by a voice that could only belong to a child. It echoed through her head and pierced her heart almost painfully. Her voice had been practically the only sound she could hear for years, so this development was very monumental for her.

The wind ruffled her auburn hair as she opened her mouth to say something. No sound passed her lips.

She tried again and again until finally a raw question managed to come out of her mouth. A very long time had passed since she had last spoken out loud, thus it was no wonder that her words sounded hoarse. ''Who are you?''

Too late, a silent voice whispered in her head.

Claire had known it before the inquiry finally managed to pass her lips. Because of how unused she was to speaking, her throat started to hurt after uttering only those three words.

Although madness had long since infected her mind, the girl did not want to talk with herself like a complete lunatic. Death and loneliness had caused a lapse in her sanity and transformed her into something she could have never expected, but they did not make her go completely bonkers.

They would probably manage doing that in a few years, but she was safe for now.

The connection broke before the boy could answer, making her wonder if she had perhaps imagined everything.

XIV.

She started seeing more of the world and it did not take her long to figure out that she was watching it through the eyes of a child.

A dark haired boy of about half her height and age to be exact.

XV.

The more she tried, the more of the world she saw.

Closing her eyes, Claire focused on the link she had discovered a few days ago. It connected her to the boy through whose eyes she lived nowadays.

When she opened her orbs, the teenager wasn't sitting in the middle of the intimately familiar meadow anymore. Now, she was inside the dinning room of a traditional Japanese house, positioned in a perfect seiza. A low table decorated with an assortment of delicious looking food stood before her.

Chopsticks were laying next to her—though it wasn't really hers, no, it was his.—right hand and seemed to be calling out to her, begging to be used.

Claire really wanted to try some of that salmon.

''Byakuya?'' The name was spoken in a deep and strict voice, prompting an immediate answer from the boy whose head Claire was occupying.

Hesitantly, Byakuya answered. ''Yes, Grandfather?''

Grandfather? The man looked a little too young to be addressed with such a title, albeit not incredibly so. Had it not been for the man's next statement, then she might have taken a while longer to consider this dilemma. As it was, Claire continued to listen to their conversation and was forced to realize a rather crucial truth.

''Our family will be holding a celebration for your birthday. It will be held in the main part of the Kuchiki compound.''

XVI.

Kuchiki Byakuya. His name was Kuchiki Byakuya.

XVII.

Apparently dying at the age of fifteen and being trapped inside the mind of a child wasn't enough of a tragedy, some higher being just had to add the plot twist of stumbling into a fictional world.

Bleach, to be exact.

And the worst thing about that whole revelation was that it made sense. Some unexplainable parts of her new existence now became understandable. Claire Greene had died and ended up in the afterlife of a fictional universe. Instead of being a part of its 'physical' world, she ended up being the Zanpakutō of Kuchiki Byakuya.

She, as a part of a cosmic joke, had now officially become Senbonzakura.

Lovely.

XVIII.

Returning to the mansion was not a difficult endeavor.

Claire—Since finding out where she was, the name Senbonzakura did not want to leave her alone. Sometimes she actually referred to herself as such.—needed more than two months to even dare stepping on the porch once again.

It took her another six months to enter the mansion and a year to finally dare touching the katana.

Never before had she felt such a power.

XIX.

Even though she had already guessed that a lot of time had passed since her death, Claire had not expected that she had been trapped in this world for half a century.

Despite looking no older than nine, Byakuya was currently celebrating his fiftieth birthday.

And as Claire watched him greeting his numerous guests and receiving expensive presents, something ugly started to develop in her chest.

Why did her jailer have the privilege of living a life of luxury, while she herself was slowly going insane in the prison that was his mind?

XX.

She called out to him over and over again.

Byakuya never answered.

XXI.

Life became slightly easier when she started to regularly invade her supposed master's daily routine.

She watched him attend to his studies and train afterwards. She tasted the food he ate and observed the people he most frequently associated with.

The girl watched him laugh, rage and bleed.

And a small part of her started hating him for all the things that he could do and she could not.

XXII.

Somewhere along the way, she stopped being Claire Greene and decided to accept her role as Senbonzakura.

The girl realized that when she wished harm upon a seemingly eleven years old Byakuya for the first time.

XXIII.

Commenting on and criticizing her jailer's actions turned out to be Senbonzakura's favorite pastime. All the mistakes he made during his training sessions amused her immensely and were the cause of more than a few vicious thoughts.

'Pathetic' became a word she started to associate with Byakuya and the dislike the Zanpakutō felt for him rose with each passing day.

(...he wasn't the truly pathetic one though, the American knew that just like she was aware of the fact that one day this young child would be a great man...

...

...

...at the end, it wasn't hard to conclude that Senbonzakura herself was the one who was slowly turning into a pathetic little girl...)

As unfortunate as it was, she just continued slandering Byakuya in the silence of their mind until even that became too boring to continue.

XXIV.

She retreated into the farthest corner of their mind scape, her heart aching and eyes leaking tears of despair and shame.

XXV.

In her situation, depressions weren't truly unexpected.

Neither was the itching need to reach for her katana and to drive it through her own body.

XXVI.

No matter how hard she tried, Senbonzakura could not die.

XXVII.

Each time she picked up the sword, the teenage girl instinctively knew how to use it.

(...Decades had passed and she still saw herself as a teen. It was hard to mature in her current environment...)

Going through dozens of katas helped her clear her mind. Despite the fact that Senbonzakura did not enjoy fighting and probably never would, repeating the same movements with a sword that was an extension of her own soul over and over again helped keeping herself calm and collected.

When there wasn't much else to do, even such a small distraction could be considered as a blessing.

XXVIII.

Soon, he started reaching out to her.

And like the pathetic little creature that she was, Senbonzakura immediately tried grasping his hand.

XXIX.

''Who are you?''

Byakuya was standing before her and actually demanding an answer. His eyes narrowed slightly as he tried to meet her gaze through the holes of the mask she had decided to done before their first meeting.

Had this not been the first human contact she had experienced in more than a century, the Zanpakutō might have bristled at the tone of his voice. After all that she had suffered because of him—Was it really his fault?—she deserved at least some sort of respect and not this rude question.

Gracefully—She had watched his family members for the last few decades and learned to perfectly copy the way they behaved and moved—Senbonzakura raised herself from the ground and proceeded to move in the boy's direction, brushing her shoulder intentionally against his.

Happiness threatened to burst out of her chest and warred with the dislike she felt for Kuchiki Byakuya. Even from a small distance, she could still feel the warmth of his body.

(...Underneath her mask, tears slid down Senbonzakura's cheeks...)

First, the noble trapped her inside of his own mind and now he thought that he could force her compliance.

What a joke...

XXX.

Their meetings continued in a similar manner.

Byakuya appeared and tried to more or less demand her name. When that did not work, the boy sat down in front of her and glared.

Intimidating never did belong to the words she used to describe him.

Neither did stubborn, but Senbonzakura quickly realized that she might have been wrong in that respect. If Kuchiki Byakuya was one thing, then it was certainly stubborn.

He did not change his tactic until she laughed at him during one of his visits.

Embarrassment did not look good on him.

XXXI.

It was his stubbornness that prompted her to start watching his daily routine once again.

Small changes had occurred during her self-inflicted exile. Byakuya, despite the way he had come across in their shared mind scape, had actually grown up a bit. He had become more serious and less playful. Not by much, of course, though still enough for her to notice.

At the age of what seemed to be fourteen, the Kuchiki heir was starting to understand what his future as a Shinigami would entail and what his noble titles truly meant.

Despite how much she liked to pretend to only hate the boy, Senbonzakura felt saddened by this change.

(...fully hating someone with whom she shared such an intimate connection was practically impossible...

...

...the Zanpakutō might have blamed the boy for what had happened to her, but deep down she knew that it wasn't his fault...

...

...

...this meant that a small part of her actually appreciated even the small amount of companionship he had gifted her through the years. Even just watching the world through his eyes was thousand times better than the stifling blankness that had followed immediately after her death...)

And as she watched him continue his attempts at finding out her name and how he slowly begun changing into a man, Senbonzakura found herself growing fond of the wielder she had once hated so much.

XXXII.

''I am Kuchiki Byakuya.'' He seemed to be about her age now. ''I've come to realize that my previous behavior might have come across as rude, especially as I've not introduced myself before, so I wanted to apologize.''

His words were very uncertain at the end. That did not make them any less honest.

For the first time since he appeared before her, she decided to answer.

Byakuya did not hear her.

XXXIII.

''What's your name?'' Asked Byakuya for what felt like the millionth time.

Licking her lip, she turned her head to the side. ''I'm Senbonzakura.''

XXXIV.

''Will you tell me your name?''

She sighed. ''I'm Senbonzakura.''

XXXV.

''What does it matter? You can't hear me anyway.'' Looking up at the flawless sky, the redhead combed a hand through her long tresses.

A pause. She thought he had left.

The clearing of a throat. ''What did you say?''

XXXVI.

There was a tea set in front of her. A kettle and two cups.

Some sweets on a small plate.

''It's my mind, so it shouldn't be too surprising that I can conjure things with just a thought.'' Byakuya answered her silent question.

She nodded her head in understanding. ''How did you know that I like tea?''

Taking a sip from his cup, he contemplated his next statement and gazed at her with his startlingly gray eyes. ''You're always present when I drink tea with someone or even by myself. I can feel you, you know.''

XXXVII.

At first she had not noticed it, but after a while the girl realized that Byakuya was in his fourth year at the Shinigami Academy. This was the year during which most students established a connection with their Zanpakutō and as its end was nearing, Byakuya was becoming visibly irritated with his lacking results in that field.

He talked to her more often and won each time a little more of her licking and sympathy, but it wasn't until he almost sacrificed his life for a few comrades during an excursion into the real world that Senbonzakura's name finally managed to reach him.

XXXVIII.

''Scatter, Senbonzakura.''

The world exploded all around her and suddenly she could feel everything.

The wind, the odors of the living world and the cries of the Hollow that was threatening her Shinigami. She could feel and smell and hear it all by herself. The sensation was different from how she experienced the outside world through Byakuya. It was more real.

Not having a human body did not matter at that moment. Senbonzakura just danced through the air in form of thousands of petals and cut down all of Byakuya's enemies.

She was quickly dubbed as one of the most beautiful Zanpakutō in Soul Society.

XXXIX.

From that moment on, they continued training together and as the years passed she became more active in Byakuya's life. They talked with each other during his lessons at the Academy and later in his office in the sixth Division. Advice was exchanged between the pair and soon Senbonzakura learned to appreciate the Kuchiki heir's dry humor.

On the outside he might have been forced to be cold, but he never quite managed that in her presence. Trust developed between them and when the right time came, the girl showed her face to him.

Byakuya was the one to reverently remove the mask. Had she not known him as good as she did, then Senbonzakura might have not noticed the slight widening of his eyes.

As it was, she just smiled softly once their gazes truly clashed for the first time.

XL.

He achieved Bankai not too long afterwards.

XLI.

Senbonzakura learned how to materialize in the physical world some time after Kuchiki Byakuya attained his captainship.

She appeared before him, her eyes wide with joy and lips tilted up in a wide smile.

That day Byakuya pushed all of his duties onto his Vice Captain and showed her around Seireitei.

XLII.

John Green once described how falling in love was and Senbonzakura had to agree with him wholeheartedly.

She fell in love with Byakuya the way one fell asleep: slowly, and then all at once.

XLIII.

They met Inuzuri Hisana during a mission.

XLIV.

Inuzuri was the 78th District of Rukongai.

It was also the place where Byakuya's rather one-sided love story begun.

XLV.

Their story reminded her of a fairytale where the handsome prince swooped in to save the damsel in distress.

Byakuya beat the thugs that tried to pry the last piece of bread from Hisana's hands. He helped the girl stand up from her hunched position on the ground and graced her with a small almost invisible smile.

Instead of thanking him, Hisana regarded Senbonzakura's wielder suspiciously and informed him of how unneeded his help truly was. Then she turned around, stuck her nose high in the air and strutted away.

For Byakuya, it was love at first sight.

XLVI.

She intrigued him at the beginning due to how different she was when compared to all the women from the capital of Soul Society. Her brash countenance and lack of regard piqued Byakuya's attention and it did not take him too long to notice her gentle beauty.

Big doe eyes surrounded by thick eyelashes. A small perky nose and plump pinkish lips. Her hair, although dirty, had the potential of being lovely.

The future Kuchiki matriarch was everything Senbonzakura would never be.

XLVII.

Like a lovesick fool, Byakuya kept coming back to the woman who could never return his love. He courted her according to the rules of the noble families and tried to ease her hardships.

All the while, Senbonzakura watched and something inside of her burned.

XLVIII.

The jealousy wasn't easily ignored. More than once Senbonzakura had to bite her own tongue to stop herself from uttering a scathing remark.

XLIX.

Despite all the insults she had used to describe Hisana, Senbonzakura knew that the woman wasn't truly all that bad.

She might not have loved Byakuya, but she did care about him. In her own way, that slip of a girl was both beautiful and gentle.

Hisana soothed Byakuya's soul and represented a reprieve from his rather horrifying work.

Her most redeeming quality, however, was the love she felt for her sister.

L.

Their first kiss was bittersweet.

The pair had spent the whole day together, walking through the 78th district and then along its edges. They talked about the silliest of things, among them the number of days Byakuya needed to learn how to drink tea properly.

Hisana told her future husband of the time when she woke up in the afterlife, remembering what had occurred before it.

(...She did not mention her sister...)

There was a certain beauty about the wilderness of the outer districts. First, one had to leave the populated areas and enter the woods, of course, because there was nothing beautiful about the poverty that could be found inside the towns. Gaunt men and women dressed in ragged clothes and selling their own bodies to survive the upcoming winter. Pickpockets trying to steal even the smallest of items. Those too weak to continue living at the sides of the streets, begging the passersby for mercy.

But there was no mercy in Rukongai.

Byakuya knew that as well as his Zanpakutō did and perhaps that was the reason why he decided to act that night as he stood next to Hisana near that calm lake. Senbonzakura could only guess that this was the reason while she watched Kuchiki Byakuya lower his head and press his lips against those of Hisana.

She watched and wished that it was her standing there, being kissed by the man who could never be hers.

LI.

Senbonzakura felt as if she was finally going to fall apart, as if the end of her story had finally arrived and she now had to choose how her demise would come about.

Perhaps it was stupid of her, but as Byakuya started to spent more and more time with Hisana, she herself lapsed into bouts of melancholia. She started pondering her previous life and imagining what it could have been like if she had not died. Senbonzakura forcefully recalled her family and friends, feeling the ache in her chest grow.

(...She missed them. She missed her old life. And above all else she missed being Claire Greene...)

All the while, the world around her continued to flourish.

LII.

They were engaged by the end of the year.

LIII.

Senbonzakura became tired of watching them and once again retreated into the back of their mind scape.

Not even that was something she was allowed to enjoy for too long.

LIV.

He summoned her to meet Hisana.

It was a sunny day, just a few weeks after their wedding. They were sitting outside on the patio when Byakuya kindly demanded her presence.

Senbonzakura could have denied him this happiness, but she did not see why she should try running away from something inevitable. Her wielder wanted to organize a meeting between his wife and Zanpakutō and one simple denial would certainly not deter him.

As such, she deliberately materialized behind him, her hands positioned on his shoulders and the familiar mask covering her face.

Byakuya introduced them to each other. Then they drunk some tea together.

After an hour, he had to leave to finish some business in his office. Silence reigned after his departure until Senbonzakura decided to utter her first words to the woman she loathed more than death itself.

''You don't deserve him.''

She received a small placid smile as an answer. ''I don't. Does that mean that you do?''

LV.

Was she truly so transparent?

LVI.

There came a time when hating Hisana became impossible.

Senbonzakura just could bring herself to do so as she watched the young woman withering away.

LVII.

Hisana's illness forced her to remember her own days in the hospital. She was forced to remember the days which had been filled with pain coursing through her body and bile in her mouth.

Senbonzakura recalled her own weakness and how much she had loathed it.

She knew better than to pity Hisana, though. It had been always the one thing Claire never wanted to receive and still had in spades.

LVIII.

More often than not, she spent her nights at Hisana's bedside.

She changed the wet cloth upon the dying woman's temple and helped her stand up when she could not by herself. For the first time in years, Senbonzakura felt sorry for someone besides herself.

LIX.

Byakuya never cried.

She could still feel his bone-deep ache.

LX.

''Byakuya-sama, please find my sister. Then after you find her, I beg you do not tell her that I am her sister. Without telling her anything, please Byakuya-sama, please protect my sister no matter what.'' Hisana gasped in pain as tears started sliding down her cheeks. ''I abandoned her, so I don't deserve to be her sibling, so I hope that she can be Byakuya-sama's sister.''

Byakuya faltered for a second, then he spoke a promise he would never break. ''I will.''

LXI.

Kuchiki Hisana died in spring.

LXII.

From afar, she watched Byakuya grieve.

When he appeared before her, she took him into her arms.

A year passed and then another. Byakuya tried to distract himself with his work. Rarely, did he leave his office and allow himself to relax.

One day Senbonzakura decided to help him.

LXIII.

They were in the sixth Division. It was late evening and most officers had already gone home.

Byakuya sat at his desk and continued taking care of his paperwork, ignoring the darkening sky outside.

Senbonzakura appeared behind him, her arms slithering around him. With deft hands she unfastened his shihakusho.

He did not reject her advances.

LXIV.

Claire used to laugh at the idea of Edward Cullen losing his virginity at the age of one hundred.

She was twice as old when she gave her body to Byakuya for the first time.

LXV.

She took what she could get. Whether it were soft caresses or rough touches, it did not matter.

Senbonzakura welcomed them all with open arms.

LXVI.

The moon illuminated his bare chest. Strands of dark hair tickled her legs as their bodies were joined in the middle.

Together, they were a picture of beauty.

LXVII.

She never stayed, knowing that he did not want her to.

It wasn't her place to stay with him during the night.

LXVIII.

Shame and guilt were common nowadays.

For both Byakuya and Senbonzakura.

While he believed that he was wronging his deceased wife, Senbonzakura knew that she was using his desperation to fulfill her own selfish wishes.

LXIX.

''Stay.''

LXX.

There was a selfish desire inside of her. A desire to possess and to be loved.

Senbonzakura would have done anything to have those desires fulfilled.

LXXI.

Waking up next to Byakuya in the morning was something she got quickly used to. His body warmed hers at night and enveloped her smaller frame easily. More than once she woke up with strands of their mingled hair in her face.

Her heart always fluttered when she saw the peaceful expression upon his sleeping face. The feeling got only worse when he woke up and gently caressed the girl's face with the same look of reverence he had gifted her when he first saw her without a mask in his eyes.

She could do nothing else but smile.

LXXII.

''I love you.''

His answer came after a few seconds of silence. ''I know.''

LXXIII.

Rumors said that Senbonzakura was not a normal Zanpakutō spirit. She materialized too often and her clinginess to her wielder could not be healthy either.

No one ever thought about the reason why she was this way. Most just considered Zanpakutō as tools and Senbonzakura seemed to be a malfunctioning one.

LXXIV.

Aizen Souske was a handsome man with a nice and gentle personality.

The quality of his mask and the hidden strength of his sword terrified Senbonzakura. Even more so when she was forced to sit with him at a table and drink the green tea he had brewed.

LXXV.

She never mentioned her foreknowledge.

LXXVI.

''We should go to the festival.'' The girl scratched the table with a well manicured finger. ''Almost everyone is going and you could use some free time.''

Before Byakuya could deny her unspoken request, Senbonzakura reached across the table and tugged on his calloused hand. ''Please, I'm tired of spending so much time in this office.''

Sighing, the Shinigami gathered a few papers and put them on top of a stack of files. ''Only for an hour.''

LXXVII.

Rukia's arrival prompted a change in their relationship.

Guilt and shame were only two of the things Byakuya felt each time they saw her. However, they were easily eclipsed by the wonder that he experienced when he realized that her presence did not hurt him as much as it should.

(...with an inappropriate amount of glee, Senbonzakura realized that she had been a good distraction...)

LXXVIII.

Relationships between a Shinigami and their Zanpakutō weren't unheard of.

That did not change the fact that they were considered as the highest form of narcissism.

LXXIX.

Through their link Senbonzakura could feel her wielder's growing affection for her.

LXXX.

Hundreds of Hollows were felled by her blade. With each battle Byakuya and Senbonzakura grew stronger and their trust deepened.

There was no one who knew them better than each other.

LXXXI.

Rukia, despite looking almost exactly like her sister, could not have been any different than the deceased Kuchiki matriarch. It was a most fortunate thing because Senbonzakura did not believe that she could have borne losing her wielder to the mirage of his dead wife.

Unlike Byakuya, she found it easy to like the boisterous girl.

LXXXII.

A small pendant was Byakuya's first gift for Senbonzakura.

It signified another change in their relationship.

LXXXIII.

She always stood proudly next to him.

Always ready to help him. Always ready to fight for him.

Her petals were perfect for both offense and defense and there was nothing more magnificent in the world than the two of them fighting side by side.

LXXXIV.

''You're doing it wrong.''

Rukia whirled around to face her, her startled eyes widening at the sight of Senbonzakura. The young girl was holding her own sword tightly, feet too wide apart and eyes too focused on her weapon. ''What?''

Senbonzakura moved forward. Then she took a hold of the girl's shoulder and smiled encouragingly. ''Your stance is all wrong. You need to move your feet slightly more together and relax your hold on the sword. Besides, you also should never take your eyes off your enemy. That's a mistake you might not get a second chance to repeat.''

''Oh.'' The young Shinigami tried to follow her instructions. ''Better?''

Senbonzakura smiled in amusement. ''Your feet, sure, but now you're holding your arms too high.''

The newest addition to the Kuchiki family rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

LXXXV.

The following years passed in a blur, Byakuya warming up to Rukia day by day.

It was startling to watch the differences her existence in this world was causing. Where in the world she once watched in the form of an anime Byakuya could not even properly look at his adopted sister without feeling the loss of his wife, in this universe he was almost welcoming her presence.

Each day the pair spent some time together during their meals and if Byakuya finished his work early, then he also regularly chose to help Rukia with her training. He tried teaching her calligraphy and how to properly behave in noble company which did not work out as well as he had hoped it would.

Senbonzakura cackled as she watched the younger girl despair in the face of all the societal rules she now had to follow.

LXXXVI.

Rukia graduated and became a Shinigami.

Shiba Kaien and his wife died.

Abarai Renji became the Lieutenant of the Sixth Division.

Kurosaki Ichigo stormed into their lives.

LXXXVII.

''You can save her,'' urged Senbonzakura as she watched her wielder stare impassively at the papers on his desk. ''You have to.''

When he did not answer, she decided to walk up to Byakuya and rattle his shoulders persistently. Although everything was supposed to end well, the girl could not help worrying about the changes her existence had already caused and might still cause.

If something happened to Rukia, Byakuya would never forgive himself. ''Please, don't do this to yourself.''

''There are rules I as a Captain need to follow. We are examples for the other Shinigami. Think about how it would look like if we started breaking the peace because of something as foolish as our feelings.'' He raised his gaze. ''Be rational.''

LXXXVIII.

Fortunately, Kurosaki Ichigo managed to beat this rationality out of him.

LXXXIX.

''You mean, they're like together together,'' whispered Ichigo, his voice full of surprise.

Renji scratched his head slightly nervously, glancing from side to side to make sure that there was no one present who could hear them gossip.

''Neither of them has confirmed it, but, well, you've seen the way they act around each other, haven't you?'' He lowered his voice slightly more. ''I have once made the mistake of walking into Taichou's office without announcing my presence. Nothing too elicit was going on, so don't look like that. However, I did see Senbonzakura with her hands on Taicho's body and there was certainly nothing innocent about that touch, if you know what I mean.''

Before Ichigo could offer his opinion, a soft reprimand interrupted him. ''I don't think that what Nii-sama and Senbonzakura-sama are doing is any of your business.''

''Rukia!'' Renji jumped up in surprise and raised his hands in a placating manner.

The Kurosaki had seen his first Shinigami friend angry more times than he could count, but this was the first time he witnessed her in a livid state. ''I don't understand why so many people think they can judge them both for their choices, but I would truly appreciate if at least the two of you would not behave like all those morons. Whether my brother is in a relationship with his Zanpakutō or not truly does not concern you.''

Both Renji and Ichigo nodded their heads, shamefully lowering their gazes.

XC.

Muramasa offered her the escape she had longed for for centuries. He offered her freedom and in a moment of weakness, Senbonzakura accepted his help.

His compulsion immediately took a hold of her and manipulated her in ways that would make her feel ashamed in the future.

XCI.

Just like in the anime, Byakuya easily managed to pull her back to his side.

XCII.

''I'm sorry, Rukia, but we have to do this.''

The young Shinigami smiled up at her brother. ''It's alright, Nii-sama. I believe in you, no matter what.''

XCIII.

Kuchiki Kouga was as hideous as he was powerful. He matched their pace at first, but ultimately faltered in the face of their united front.

As Senbonzakura watched Muramasa fading alongside his master unrestrained tears started sliding down her cheeks.

XCIV.

''We're not just tools.''

They stood in front of the newly appointed Central 46, Byakuya calmly presenting his case and explaining his choices. Considering his status as the Head of the Kuchiki Clan and the Captain of the Sixth Division, her master's punishment probably wouldn't be too harsh. Senbonzakura also knew that to keep it this way she probably should not interfere, but she could not stop herself from practically shouting at these idiots when she heard the way they talked about Muramasa.

''Had more of you offered us the proper respect we deserve, then perhaps not even half as many Zanpakutō would have actually chosen to follow Muramasa. You might think that we all are just tools you may use and later discard, however, that's not true. And if you don't change your views soon, then I'll make sure that Soul Society does not survive the next Zanpakutō rebellion.'' She deliberately raised her reiatsu. ''But if you truly believe that you're all so high and mighty, you can continue behaving as you have until now. The time will come when we will show you how far you can actually go without us. Can you imagine it, a Shinigami without the power of a Zanpakutō?''

For once those old fools were rendered speechless.

XCV.

After they were dismissed, Senbonzakura left her wielder's side to meet the other Zanpakutō spirits.

Together, they built a monument for Muramasa and all the other Zanpakutō that had fallen during the Zanpakutō rebellion.

XCVI.

As a Captain, Byakuya had a lot of influence when it came to the education of the Shinigami. Whether it was through extra lectures for his division or even lesson he chose to give at the Academy.

At her request, he started educating the students and younger Shinigami about the true nature of Zanpakutō spirits.

XCVII.

''Thank you,'' whispered Senbonzakura as she removed the Kenseikan from Byakuya's hair. Her hands moved gently through his dark tresses and she leaned her forehead against his back. ''What you're doing, it means a lot to me.''

Byakuya's answering smile stayed unseen.

XCVIII.

Being a Zanpakutō wasn't easy, Senbonzakura knew that better than most. As a once free soul she could see what a curse this new existence of hers truly was. Not only did it rob her of her freedom, but it also seemed to change her into a lesser being in the eyes of a huge part of Soul Society's population.

She was a weapon first and foremost. Being a person with feelings was expected to come second.

The girl knew of the impossibility of that expectation just like she knew of the loneliness all Zanpakutō experienced.

As such, it was only natural for her to be one of the most prominent advocates of Zanpakutō rights.

XCIX.

The Espada came and failed to prevail against them. Aizen was overpowered by Ichigo.

The Zanpakuto continued to subtly fight for their rights.

The Quincy Blood War occurred. Byakuya's Bankai was stolen.

Life continued.

C.

The two of them ended up being one of the most famous Shinigami and Zanpakutō pairs to ever exist. Their 'fame' only seemed to rise as their relationship became more public.

The Wars against Aizen and Yhwach made them only grow closer and stronger.

One day this strength led to Byakuya's promotion to the Captain-Commander.

CI.

Many centuries later, Byakuya fell in battle.

That was not the end of their story.