Bleach: I Love Making Friends

Jūshirō Ukitake, Kaien Shiba, and Rukia Kuchiki were all gravely injured.

Haruki glanced at the empty sky and thought to himself, "They just watched the whole show and then left without offering any help…."

He had no other option but to carry the three of them back to the Seireitei.

"Don't blame me for not using Kaidō. I nearly depleted my spiritual energy when I healed you and Rukia earlier."

He spoke to Kaien Shiba, who was still somewhat conscious.

Kaien, having been severely wounded twice by White, was barely hanging on. In a low voice, he asked, "What about that Hollow…?"

"It ran off," Haruki said gravely. "So don't you dare die on me. If you die, you can't get your revenge."

He certainly couldn't reveal that White had transferred itself into Rukia Kuchiki's body, which would most likely get her sentenced to death. Haruki wasn't Ichigo Kurosaki—he wasn't going to take on the entire Seireitei alone to rescue Rukia. And if Rukia were to be executed, who would compensate him for the missing part of his soul ability?

By claiming White had escaped, he gave Kaien a reason to live on: a target for revenge.

Carrying all three of them on his back, Haruki made his way to the Seireitei and headed straight for Squad Four.

The members of Squad Four were stunned to see who he had brought in.

With a captain (Ukitake), a lieutenant (Kaien), and a Kuchiki family foster daughter—each one was a significant individual.

"Hurry, prepare for treatment!"

Haruki, panting from exertion, watched as the entire Squad Four was mobilized.

"Haruki, what happened?"

A woman suddenly appeared in front of him. She wore the white haori of a captain and received the unconscious Ukitake from Haruki's arms.

Immediately, she released her Zanpakutō, which took the form of something resembling a manta ray. It swallowed Ukitake in one gulp.

"It's like this…"

Haruki explained what had happened, carefully omitting the part about White transferring itself into Rukia's body. With current medical technology in the Seireitei, they'd be unable to detect such a transfer anyway. As long as he and Aizen remained silent, no one would find out. Besides, Aizen would likely be very interested in observing Rukia's future development, so there was no chance he'd disclose it.

During all this, Haruki noticed Captain Unohana Retsu's soul ability:

'Dual Mastery of Healing and Sword: The stronger one's swordsmanship, the stronger one's healing arts—and vice versa. Both abilities grow in tandem; as one improves, the other follows.'

A formidable power indeed, befitting the original Gotei 13 member, Unohana Yachiru. But since Unohana was even older than Kyōraku Shunsui, winning her over would be immensely difficult. A thousand-year-old battle-hardened legend is hardly someone you can simply "charm"—she'd probably regard you as a mere child still in diapers.

The road ahead is long… Haruki thought, snapping out of his musings.

Unohana nodded. "You mentioned you also have some skill in Kaidō?"

"In truth, I've only studied it briefly," Haruki replied modestly. "And it's very draining. I used up most of my spiritual energy to heal Lieutenant Shiba and Rukia Kuchiki, so in the end, I could only watch as that strange Hollow escaped."

"…"

Unohana said softly, "If you're interested in furthering your healing abilities, feel free to come train in Squad Four anytime. It's rare to see a promising talent. Would you consider transferring to our division?"

"Captain Unohana, that seems a bit much, don't you think?"

Before Haruki could respond, another voice cut in—it was Aizen, who had just arrived. He adjusted his glasses and said, "Haruki-kun is a valuable assistant of mine."

"Captain Aizen, why are you here?"

Haruki feigned surprise.

"Upon hearing that my important subordinate was injured, how could I not come to check on him?" Aizen said quietly. "Haruki-kun, you're all right?"

"Thanks to Captain Ukitake and Lieutenant Shiba, I'm fine," Haruki replied.

He then turned to Unohana. "Captain Unohana, since Captain Aizen is here, I'll take my leave. I'll come by tomorrow to see how they're doing."

Unohana nodded, and Haruki departed with Aizen.

Aizen led Haruki all the way back to their secret base.

Kaname Tōsen and Gin Ichimaru were absent; clearly, they knew that a captain and a lieutenant of the Gotei 13 being severely injured by a Hollow was a significant event. They couldn't all disappear at once.

"Unbelievable…"

Once in the laboratory, Aizen wore an expression of delight. He hurried over to a large mainframe computer.

Multiple pop-up windows and data streams flickered across the screen until an image of Rukia Kuchiki appeared. She lay unconscious in a bed in Squad Four, her youthful face breathing faintly. Each rise and fall of her chest caused new data to appear on the monitor.

"It really is strange," Haruki said, equally puzzled. "White self-destructed rather than just 'Hollowfying' someone. That means it completed the final phase—'transfer.' This was never part of the original plan."

"But isn't that all the more interesting?"

Aizen spoke softly. "White chose Rukia Kuchiki as its host. That suggests there was something about her that attracted it. Any guesses… as to what that might be?"

Haruki narrowed his eyes. In truth, he had been pondering this from the moment the transfer took place. It was something he'd speculated about back when he'd read the Bleach manga in his previous life, but now, it seemed those speculations were real.

He spoke quietly, "The Hōgyoku."

"The Hōgyoku, and a certain other special quality."

Aizen gave an approving smile and nodded.

Back in the manga's fandom, there were always two main theories about when Kisuke Urahara implanted the Hōgyoku into Rukia Kuchiki's soul.

Theory 1: The straightforward version—Rukia first arrived in the World of the Living, and then Kisuke placed the Hōgyoku into her soul, sealing it permanently with a special Gigai.

Theory 2: Before Rukia ever went to the World of the Living, Kisuke had already hidden the Hōgyoku within her soul.

Proponents of the second theory often cited two lines from Aizen:

'By the time I realized it (that the Hōgyoku was in your soul), you had already gone missing in the World of the Living. My intuition told me it was Kisuke Urahara's doing.'

If Kisuke had only implanted the Hōgyoku after Rukia arrived in the World of the Living, Aizen wouldn't have phrased it that way—nor would he say he relied on "intuition" to know it was Kisuke.

However, that alone doesn't prove much, because later Aizen admitted to having lied about a number of things to Ichigo Kurosaki. But another line of his is crucial:

'To confirm the Hōgyoku's capabilities, I assigned Rukia Kuchiki to stay by Ichigo Kurosaki's side.'