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

  Haruki g the empty sky and thought to himself, "They just watched the whole show and the without any help…."

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

  "Don't bme 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 scious.

  Kaien, having been severely wouwice 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 '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 senteo death. Haruki wasn't Ichigo Kurosaki—he wasn't going to take oire Seireitei aloo rescue Rukia. And if Rukia were to be executed, who would pensate him for the missing part of his soul ability?

  By g 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 stuo see who he had brought in.

  With a captain (Ukitake), a lieutenant (Kaien), and a Kuchiki family foster daughter—eae was a signifit 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 unscious 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 expined what had happened, carefully omitting the part about White transferring itself into Rukia's body. With current medical teology in the Seireitei, they'd be uo detect such a transfer anyway. As long as he and Aizen remained silent, no one would find out. Besides, Aizen would likely be very ied in Rukia's future development, so there was no ce he'd disclose it.

  During all this, Haruki noticed Captain Unohasu'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 inal Gotei 13 member, Unohana Yachiru. But sinohana was even older than Kyōraku Shunsui, winning her over would be immensely difficult. A thousand-year-old battle-hardened legend is hardly someone you 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 ied in furthering your healing abilities, feel free to e train in Squad Four anytime. It's rare to see a promising talent. Would you sider 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 gsses 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 e to che him?" Aizen said quietly. "Haruki-kun, you're all right?"

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

  He then turo Unohana. "Captain Unohana, since Captain Aizen is here, I'll take my leave. I'll e 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.

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

  "Unbelievable…"

  On the boratory, Aizen wore an expression of delight. He hurried over te mainframe puter.

  Multiple pop-up windows and data streams flickered across the s until an image of Rukia Kuchiki appeared. She y unscious 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' someohat means it pleted the final phase—'transfer.' This was never part of the inal pn."

  "But isn't that all the more iing?"

  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 p this from the moment the traook pce. It was something he'd specuted about back when he'd read the Bleach manga in his previous life, but now, it seemed those specutions were real.

  He spoke quietly, "The Hōgyoku."

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

  Aizen gave an approving smile and nodded.

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

  Theory 1: The straightforward version—Rukia first arrived in the World of the Living, and then Kisuke pced the Hōgyoku into her soul, sealing it permaly 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.

  Propos of the sed 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 imphe 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 ter Aizen admitted to having lied about a number of things to Ichigo Kurosaki. But another line of his is crucial:

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