Chapter 6

White was the only color the eye could see. White walls. White floors. White ceiling. If there was any other color, then it was impossible for any living being to spot. Inside a great hall were two men. They appeared to be speaking about someone or something.

"It's almost time. Is everything prepared?" The man asked.

Harri woke up with a jolt. She turned to the window and saw that the sun was shining brightly.

"That was a strange dream." Harri commented.

'Oh right. I'm back in Japan. I wonder if Byakuya, Renji, and Ichigo have returned from Soul Society, yet. And Rukia. Does she know, now?'

Harri thoughts were made and instead of just thinking them, she decided to go down and see for herself. If they weren't back, then she would patiently wait. If they were back, then she would grill them until they were out of spit.

She rushed into Urahara's shop area and saw that Urahara was giggling behind his fan. Ichigo was snickering behind a hand covering his mouth. Urahara and Tessai were helping two bruised men. She looked confused. She thought they were only going to tell Rukia that she was alive, not get into any fights. Although Ichigo was already healed, he had been punched, as well.

"Ah. Hello Hisana-chan. Did you have a nice rest?" Urahara asked in between laughs.

"Yes, thanks, but um. . . What happened to you three? I thought you were only going to tell Rukia that her sister was alive again." Harri asked confused.

As mean as it seemed, she felt like laughing at the three men like the shop keeper was.

"Hmm. . . This is the result of telling your beloved sister of your existence." Renji grumbled.

"Care to explain?" Harri asked.

Hermione and Ron came into the room to hear the explanation as well. They already saw the bruised men and had their shot at laughing.

*Flashback*

It was dark out. Byakuya, Renji, and Ichigo stepped through the gates into Soul Society and immediately flash stepped to the Kuchiki compound. Byakuya was preparing what he was about to say to his adopted sister. When she was around him, she was very respectful and listened to him, the majority of the time. However, when it came to Ichigo and Renji, she tended to show her emotions. Emotions being, when she was pissed off and needed a punching bag or look for a low level hollow to cut down. It didn't take long for the three to arrive at the residence. It was finally time to tell Rukia the truth.

Finding Rukia didn't take any time at all. In fact, she was the one whom was the first to find them.

"Oh. Ni-sama. Where have you been? What are Ichigo and Renji doing here?" She asked curiously.

Renji and Ichigo looked towards the stoic captain and waited for him to reply.

"Renji and I were in the real world looking for unusual spiritual pressure that was detected." He started off.

Rukia waited patiently for Byakuya to elaborate because there was no way that her Ni-sama would actually get demoted to have to go to the real world and destroy low level hollows. Also, Aizen has been pretty quiet lately, so she figured it had nothing to do with him.

"Oh, this'll be troublesome if we don't just up and say it. You have a sister, Rukia." Renji said.

"OUCH! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR ICHIGO!" Renji yelled at Ichigo for slapping the back of his head.

"Ya don't just say stuff like that right off the bat." He returned.

Rukia had nothing to say. All she could do was stare at the three men. Renji and Ichigo bickered as per usual and Byakuya held his temples with a pained face. He must have had a headache. Rukia felt like she might get one as well.

"What. Do. You. Mean. I. Have. A. Sister?" Rukia said each word carefully annunciating each word.

"Taicho, did you seriously not tell her about Hisana?" Renji asked as politely as possible.

Byakuya gave a mental sigh in agony from the two he insisted come along. Why? Oh, why did he have to deal with these types of personalities. Especially ones like Kurosaki's and Abarai's.

"They are correct, Rukia. You do, indeed, have an older sister."

Rukia's eyes widened and tried to continue listening to her brother. Surely, he had a logical explanation for keeping this from her.

"Your sister's name was Hisana Kuchiki. She died when you were still a baby. After a year of meeting with her in Rukongai, I convinced her to live with me and we brought you with us. We got married because it was custom for me to have already been married, so I was able to convince her to agree with it, but eventually she grew to love me. Another year went by and then she was diagnosed with an illness. I didn't know what was wrong with her, but eventually she was unable to move on her own. Before she died she requested me to keep a promise."

"And what was that?" Rukia asked monotonously.

Byakuya stood up and walked towards the cupboard, where he stored a picture of Rukia's long lost sister and his wife. He pulled out the picture and handed it to Rukia.

Rukia stared down at the picture. There she was. It was her sister. She almost mistook it for herself at first because they looked so much like each other. However, their was a distinct difference between them. Her sister's hair was a lighter ebony than hers. Her sister. . . Hisana. . . Rukia could see her holding a baby in her arms while standing next to Byakuya. She knew that she and Byakuya were not blood related, but why didn't he say anything about her having a sister before now?

"So, my sister. . . is alive. . . in the living world?" She asked slowly.

"Yep." Renji and Ichigo said together.

"Huh."

"Is that all you have to say?" Renji asked.

*Fist in the eye.*

Ichigo gave a slight chuckle before saying, "You could be a little more sensitive, you know."

*Flashback Pause*

"Ugh. Taicho did ya have to mention that?" Renji asked moaning in anguish.

"Tch. You deserved it." Ichigo snickered.

"Don't give me that shit! You were sucker punched too." He hissed back.

"What did you do?" Harri asked Ichigo.

"Ma ma. Let's continue with the story." Urahara suggested trying to silence the troublesome boys.

Byakuya, being surprisingly patient, continued his story.

*Flashback Continued*

"Ni-sama, why didn't you tell me until now?" Rukia asked her thought out loud when she was able to relocate her voice.

"I'm sure you understand the pain of losing a loved one. Didn't you tell me one time that you thought you might have had a crush on Shiba, Kaien. He was the fuku-taicho of the thirteenth court guard squad. "

Now that he put it that way, Rukia had to say. She guessed that was a pretty good reason not to tell someone. She hadn't even told Ichigo that he looked like the spitting image of the man. Ukitake-taicho almost mistook him for Kaien the first time he and his friends came to rescue her from execution. And boy, it was lucky that Byakuya could be such a smooth talker to have the nerve to mention Kaien to her.

Her eyes hid behind the shadows of her bangs.

"Did you not tell me about her because I grew to look just like her?" She asked calmly.

"Yes." Rukia's brother answered.

"Oh."

"That promise I mentioned earlier. I said that I would always protect you and make sure you lived happily. But that didn't work out so well, you were almost executed." He answered softly.

Rukia watched him for a moment. It felt like Byakuya was baring his soul to her and he was one of the most private people she'd ever met. She had to admit that she was happy that he finally told her the truth. As they say, better late, then never.

"So she was reincarnated. Does she still look the same?" Rukia asked.

"Mm hm. She sounds exactly the same as well."

Rukia paused for a moment. ". . . When can I see her?"

Byakuya gave a barely noticeable smile. "As soon as your done with your patrol of Karakura town for the week. That should give us time to prepare to bring Harri to visit Soul Society." He replied.

"Harri?" Rukia asked confused.

"That's what your sister goes by now, but she says it's okay if you refer to her as Hisana. Whichever you prefer is fine." Ichigo answered her question.

"I see."

"We'll stay the night, but we should be getting back to the living world in the morning, to tell your sister that you are now aware of her." Byakuya said.

"Byakuya ni-sama?"

"Ah."

*Smacks on the cheek*

"I know that I would have never thought of doing something like that before, but that was for waiting so long and putting yourself through pain." She said softly.

"Ah." He looked down.

"But thank you for telling me." She finished.

*Flashback Pause*

"Well, I see why you and Renji have a bruise." Harri said to Byakuya. "Renji was an insensitive ass and you were hiding your pain, but why did Ichigo get punched?"

Ichigo groaned.

*Flashback Continued*

As promised, the three men spent the night inside Soul Society to keep Rukia company. They were served dinner and in the morning, breakfast by the Kuchiki servants. However now it was time to appear inside the living world, once again.

"Hold on Ni-sama, I have a letter I want you to give to onee-chan." She went to the desk and quickly scribbled a little note and handed it to Byakuya.

"Oi Ichigo, before you go. . ." Rukia purposefully trailed off. That made him turn around, to see what Rukia wanted to say.

"Ah-"

*PUNCHED IN THE JAW!*

Ichigo stumbled backwards holding his cheek.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR!"

Renji didn't try to hold in his amusement. He was outright laughing at the poor, misfortunate boy.

"Tisk, tisk Ichigo. I'm ashamed of you, baka. You should never let your guard down. What kind of substitute shinigami are you, to let a little girl do that to you?"

Byakuya rolled his eyes. "Come on, you idiots." He said opening the gate.

(A.N. I can't help myself. Torturing them is so fun for me. I'm so mean, but. . .yeah)

". . . Oh." Harri said. She snorted. ". . . I'm so sorry that she did that to you, Ichigo."

Ichigo lifted a disbelieving eyebrow. Clearly, her body language was saying the opposite, because she was still smiling.

Once Byakuya was fully recovered from the light bruise, he pulled out the letter from his pocket and handed it to Harri.

"Thank you."

She opened the letter and saw that it was written in Kanji. She found herself surprised that she was able to read what it said.

Dear Hisana onee-chan,

Until we meet face to face, I can't completely trust that you are truly alive. However, I will believe Byakuya ni-sama's story. I'm looking forward to officially meeting you, because unfortunately I can't say I remember you.

Anyway, until we meet, I would like to leave you with a few words. One. Look out for a doll named Kon. He's a stuffed lion. It's unbelievable, but he's a mod soul or an artificial soul. That means he was created by Soul Society. That's beside the point. The main point is be careful. Apparently, we look almost exactly like each other and believe it or not, Kon is a pervert. If he even looks at you feel free to bash his head into the floor or a wall. He won't care. I do it all the time. (^.^)

As for the second word. I'm sure that you've probably been informed, that Ni-sama has told you about me and the little conversation we had last night. Anyway, the reason Ichigo got punched, was mostly because I consider him my punching bag. But the other more logical reason could be that it is important that he stays in tip top shape. So I've been occasionally substituting for his father, who likes to randomly attack him for no apparent reason.

Until we meet,

Rukia Kuchiki (Chappy rules)

(A.N. Yes, I know the reason. It's to train Ichigo.)

"Hmm. . . Who's Chappy?" Harri asked.

"A bunny." Ichigo said.