Time can only flow forward, but I wish to have 'that day' once more!

(Color Page: Ichigo and Rukia stand there like in the good ol' days. The blade, Zangetsu, has its tip stabbed into the ground between them. I ♥ Ichigo's style!)

"If you hadn't come for us... Hinamori would have died," 10th Captain Hitsugaya stands over the sleeping form of Hinamori Momo as she lays in bed, hooked up to an IV. "...Thank you, Matsumoto."

"...It was nothing..." 10th Vice-Captain Matsumoto Rangiku looks away as her mind wanders to the recent memory of Ichimaru Gin as he retracted his sword. She had crouched there, watching Gin as he sheathed his blade and turned away.

Hitsugaya was on the roof, ready to deliver another attack, "Wait! Ichimaru!!"

"Instead of coming after me," Gin warned him, "you should be lookin' after Miss Vice-Captain of the 5th." He disappeared into thin air.

You always have that bad habit heading off to your destination without telling me, she thinks about Gin - both as a boy and as a man, you still haven't grown out of that, huh, Gin... She looks down thoughtfully, Where could you possibly be trying to go...?

At the present, Hitsugaya's mind is on other troubling matters, That letter of Aizen's... how much of it was falsified? The power of the Dual Terminus when unsealed by Kuchiki Rukia's execution... to have that power and plot the destruction of Soul Society... Are those parts true...? If it is true... if that is that bastard Ichimaru's target... I...

A lone black butterfly flutters through the night. Rangiku turns and notices it heading their way, "...A Hell's Butterfly...?"

"I have a report to give to both the Captain and the Vice-Captain," the Hell's Butterfly hovers between the two shinigami. "There has been a final reschedule of convicted prisoner Kuchiki Rukia's execution. The conclusive penalty shall be carried out... 29 hours from now."

"Captain..." Rangiku gasps, "This is...!"

"This is the final decision," the butterfly announces, "There shall be no further changes of schedule hereafter. That is all..."

Hitsugaya spins on his heel and strides down the passageway. Rangiku calls after him, "Captain!!!"

Hitsugaya doesn't turn back to look at her as he says, "The execution and its connection to the release of the Dual Terminus. If that is Ichimaru's aim, then we cannot overlook this situation. Come with me, Matsumoto. (1) We're going to stop the execution."

~*~*~

The Dual Terminus stands tall atop the high cliff. A figure approaches near the base of the cliff and looks up, muttering to himself, "...There's no mistake... It's that guy's spiritual pressure..."

Hidden somewhere in the area, a long ladder leads down into a vast cave. On the barren, rocky ground at the bottom of the cave, Kurosaki Ichigo faces off against the spirit of his Zanpaku sword - Zangetsu.

Yoruichi stands to the side with her arms crossed. It's not an abrupt progression... but it seems that his development is going along favorably... she thinks as she observes them battle it out. However... I've been feeling an unsettling feeling in my chest... There's something... Her eyes narrow, I sense something ominous getting closer to this place...

An explosion suddenly occurs at the top of the ladder - the entrance to the cavern. Ichigo freezes in shock.

"Just as I was wondering what you were doing creeping into a place like this..." A voice echoes across the cavern. Yoruichi and Zangetsu look upas the voice continues, "That guy... is he the true form of your Zanpaku sword?"

Someone crashes into the ground at the base of the long ladder, kicking up a cloud of dust in the process.

"So you're hiding away and training for the Bankai in secret... you're up to some interesting shit, man..."

Ichigo turns and watches as the dust cloud thins out. Abarai Renji stands there with his unsealed blade, Zabimaru, resting on his shoulder.

The red-haired shinigami smirks, "I'll join in on this."

"Renji...!!!" Ichigo shouts in surprise.

"Don't give me that look asking 'what the hell are you doing here?'" Renji's confident grin widens as he approaches them. "What. It's not a major reason or anything. I kinda ran outta time, you see. I just wanted a place where I can concentrate and train a little, too."

"Out of... time...?" Ichigo echoes dubiously. "...What do you mean by that?"

"...Oh, that's right. I'll tell you about it, then," Renji turns his attention to Ichigo, his smile gone, "The time of Rukia's execution was changed."

"...What did you say?" Ichigo demands.(2)

"The new execution time is... at noon tomorrow," Renji tells the shocked trio.

"I hate to say it but my current ability to save Rukia is a little lacking. So I came here," Renji turns and walks a short distance away, "Don't worry. It's not like I'm going to do anything to interfere with your training." He grips his sword as energy starts to flow out of it, "I've also done the embodiment training. I'm very close to reaching the Bankai." (3)

The spiritual embodiment of Zabimaru - the large tattoo'ed monkey with a snake for a tail - appears at Renji's feet, through the blade is still intact in Renji's hand.

Renji looks back at Ichigo and the rest, telling them, "I'll be doing my own thing over here."

Yoruichi leans forward, sweating, "...Did... he say... tomorrow? That can't be..." Her eyes widen, "Then there's no way the Bankai..."

The blade in Ichigo's hand shatters and Yoruichi looks over at the youth in surprise.

"...So that's fine with you, huh, Yoruichi..." Ichigo says angrily, not facing her, "You invited me to do this training... so you're in no position to give up..."

"But, Ichigo...!" she yells back. "If you can't perfect the Bankai by tomorrow, then..."

"I told you," Ichigo snaps at her, "I won't listen to what happens if it can't be done. If the deadline has been moved up to tomorrow, then," he smashes the remains of the sword's hilt into the palm of his other hand, "we're talking about how I should finish this up today!!!"

Renji glances back at the determined Ichigo and smiles slightly.

~*~*~

High in the White Tower, Rukia lays in the center of her prison, staring up at the ceiling quietly. Eventually, she mutters, "The execution is tomorrow... huh..."

"...oh, that's right..." Rukia says to herself dully, "Before the execution tomorrow... I will try and request for all of Ichigo's group to be returned to the other world safely... I'm a criminal of the Kuchiki household. I might be able to make at least that much of a selfish request..."

She lays still, thinking, The execution is tomorrow... when I heard that I felt shocked, but I strangely didn't feel sad. That must surely be due to the dream I had last night.

Her expression is miserable as she thinks, It is something I will never forget. It lies with the dream I had that night.

She closes her eyes...

"...sir... Sir Kai.... Sir Kaien...!"

...and she remembers that night in the rain...

"...Sir Kaien...!!!"

...when she sat in the field, clutching the bloodied body of Shiba Kaien in her arms.

"Sir... Kaien..."

His head rests on her shoulder. His his eyes are unfocused... dead.

(1)Sounds familiar to how Ichimaru would say, "Come with me, Izuru"...
(2)Yup, Rukia said the exact same thing last chapter.
(3)Unlike Ichigo, Renji has had plenty of time to work on his Bankai training. I'm not surprised that he's nearly at the end of his 10+ years of training. Of course, if he achieves Bankai - he'll reach captain rank and thus crush Darci-san's dream of Ichigo being his boss one day. ^^; That's too bad... :(

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