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Yuna awoke to the bright sunlight shining through her bedroom window. She stared at the ceiling for a while as the memories of last night came flooding back to her. When Omaeda's ugly face came into her mind she cringed and raised her hand in the air so she could examine it, twisting it around a bit until a sharp pain shot through it. She immediately brought it back down and held it in her other hand for a moment, eyes shut tight with a grimace on her face. Her eyes shot open narrowed once the pain was gone and she hoped that Omaeda was hurting a lot more than she was as she got out of her bed.

Just then the door opened to reveal her father. Yuna didn't look at him, couldn't look at him.

"How are you feeling, Yuna?" He asked, after a pause.

Yuna didn't answer and he walked swiftly toward her, enveloping her in a loving embrace. A tear escaped from one of her eyes, causing her to cling tightly to him. She could feel his slender fingers lightly stroking her hair, calming her down with ease though.

"You've slept for quite a bit." Jushiro stated.

Yuna didn't say anything. When she had gotten home, she had shut herself in her room and cried herself to sleep as the realization of what could've happened dawned on her during the walk home. The whole time she was sleeping was filled with nightmares of Omaeda. With a shudder, she leaned away from him so he could see the attempt at a smile on her face. Her father gave her a half-hearted one back and stepped away from her.

"Well, under the circumstances, I allowed you to miss breakfast and the early training but I'm afraid the others would be very angry with me if you missed the rest of the day." He stated.

Yuna nodded in understanding, while looking away from him again.

"I'll be out soon." She said.

Jushiro stared at her hesitantly before slowly leaving. Yuna let out a sigh when he was gone and went to her closet to change into her uniform. Once she was done, she walked swiftly to her destination. However, she was surprised to find a black cat, Captain, and a disheveled looking Miyako there already. None the less, she walked silently past Miyako and sat at the table. Miyako started walking into the room and stopped halfway, looking down at a black cat that was currently blocking her path. Her ears were pinned back against her head in dislike.

"Why is there another cat in the house?" Miyako asked, a hint of malice in her voice.

The guardian bent down so she was at eye level with the other cat, Yuna watched silently slightly interested.

"Miyako, meet Yoruichi. Yoruichi; Miyako." Her father motioned to each of them with his hand as he spoke their names.

Miyako looked back down at the cat, "You're Yoruichi? But how can you be a cat?"

"The same way you can change into a cat. You two are a lot alike Miyako, in more ways than one." Ukitake said.

Miyako glanced into Yoruichi's eyes for a moment.

"Oh, it is you. I didn't think I would see you so soon," Yoruichi put her paw on Miyako's face in return.

Miyako scratched behind her ear then looked in the shorter captain's direction and glared. "Why did you bring that with you?"

The look of anger on the Captain's face was priceless. Miyako stood up, grabbed the fish that was on the table, and then proceeded to walk out of the room. Not once, did she look at Soifon's face while doing so.

"Miyako, that is no way to treat a guest! Especially one who has come all this way to talk to you specifically." Ukitake scolded the girl, causing Yuna to chuckle and Miyako to mumble under her breath.

"Fine." She turned around and sat at the table across from Yuna who was very amused at the whole situation.

Miyako pouted and put her head in her hand, obviously not wanting to be there causing Jushiro to clear his throat. Miyako sighed and sat up straight, a smile appearing on Ukitake's face.

"Let us eat." Jushiro simply said.

Everyone started to dig in then and Jushiro added, "Captain Soifon, do you care to enlighten us with your reason for joining us today?"

Yuna slowly grabbed the chopsticks with her left hand then, but winced and dropped the chopsticks from the pain of turning her wrist. It was like it was the only sound in the room and she could feel everyone's stares on her and her only. Her eyes narrowed before she disappeared on the spot from using her flash step.

"Yuna!" She heard Miyako yell, but she ignored her and kept pushing herself faster.

"I'm faster than you, Yuna, and you know it!" She heard her guardian yell this time and sure enough there she was right next to her.

Yuna came to an abrupt stop then and Miyako followed suite, effortlessly.

"I hate you!" Yuna yelled suddenly, her eyes filled with emotion.

Miyako glared at her in response.
"I hate you." Yuna repeated, tears escaping from her eyes and traveling down her face in narrow fast-running streams.

"You were supposed to protect me. Where were you? I needed you and you weren't there." Yuna said, her heart breaking at the sound of her own voice.

Where did her sense of pride go?

Miyako's expression changed to sadness as she understood what Yuna was going through now. Not only was her wrist hurt by this ogre man, but so was her honor and the wrist was just a plain reminder of it. She took a step toward her with her hand outreached, but Yuna disappeared again before she could reach her. Yuna flash stepped away from Miyako as tears flew off her face from the wind created by her speed. Not looking where she was going, she ran into someone's arms. Quickly, she blindingly fought against the chest of the person who was holding her.

"Yuna... Yuna... Yuna!" A familiar strong, male voice said, causing her to stop and look up with tear filled eyes when they pushed her out at arm's length.

Byakuya looked into her aqua-green eyes with his own calm and slate gray ones. She stared into them for a while with wide eyes before looking away with embarrassment.

"I'm sorry, Captain. I've haven't been feeling much like myself today..." Yuna stated with her head hung in shame.

"...Perhaps, we should start with our lessons tomorrow then... Have you eaten lunch yet?" Byakuya asked.

Yuna looked up in surprise at him, but his expression was still the same. She looked away then and shook her head.

"Then you can eat lunch with Renji and I if you'd like. The rest of my squad is doing small duties around the seireitei currently." Byakuya suggested with the same expression.

Yuna hesitated, but she couldn't deny a noble and captain's request so she nodded in response while looking away from him.

He looked at her hard before saying, "Alright then, follow me."

He started walking and Yuna silently followed till they got inside his barracks.

"It's beautiful!" Yuna exclaimed, mesmerized at the magnificent cherry blossom trees everywhere.

She looked at Byakuya to see his response to her comment and she thought she saw a small smile before his face went instantly monotone again. Yuna giggled a bit at his reaction, but he stayed the same. She started dancing around then with her eyes closed, spinning and leaping behind Byakuya with graceful movements only ballet could have taught her. Byakuya waited for her in the doorway of their destination, but was surprised when Yuna leaped and landed perfectly inside on the step while ending it with an elegant spin.

"Well, look who it is!" She heard a familiar male voice exclaim.

She smiled and opened her eyes to see Renji sitting down at a table with a glass of water in his hand, raised toward her. She gave him a little wave as Byakuya went to sit down and before taking a seat herself.

"You're quite the dancer, Yuna." Byakuya said before eating some sushi and rice.

"I'll say!" Renji tried to say, but it was muffled by the amount of noodles in his mouth at the time.

Yuna saw Byakuya's expression change to annoyed, but he kept eating nonetheless.

Renji swallowed his food then and took a big drink of his water before asking, "How long did you take classes for it?"

Yuna gave him a smile and said plainly, "One year."

Renji immediately swallowed the food he was eating from surprise and started choking before taking a drink of water, choking a bit on that as well. While Byakuya merely coughed from the water he was drinking in surprise.

Carefully with her right hand, Yuna took a rice ball and started eating it slowly with her eyes closed.

"Only a year?!" Renji suddenly yelled, causing Yuna to panic and end up dropping the rice ball to the floor.

She stared at it with regret and tried her hardest to pick it all up, wincing a bit whenever she had to use her left hand.

"That's right I forgot to ask, where'd you go last night after you left?" Renji asked suddenly.

Yuna stopped trying to pick it up then and just stared at it with wide eyes of horror. She could feel Byakuya's gaze on her now as well.

"I looked all over for you during and after, but you were no where to be found. I was scared you'd wandered off of on your own for some reason and might've gotten lost..." Renji said, careful to leave out the fact that he was accusing her of maybe getting drunk out of her mind.

Yuna shook her head and went back to cleaning up the mess.

"I was fine, I just went out for a little fresh air, and then decided to go home." Yuna carefully answered while putting the mess onto her plate.

She then stood up and without really looking at Byakuya, but turning toward him she said, "I should go now, Mr. Kuchiki. But thank you so much for inviting me."

Then with that said, she left. Crossing her arms behind her head, she stared up at the sky and started slowly walking toward her barracks. I suppose I can't just keep moping about it forever. I mean I've got to move on sometime. So why not start now?

Because it still hurts, her zanpakuto's voice answered inside her mind. Yuna suddenly dropped to all fours then with frustration, but the added weight to her left wrist caused her to crumple in on herself with a cry of pain. Why? Why am I so weak now? I want it to stop, but I just don't know how. How to get over something like this.

"Stop it, Yuna." She heard a voice say, one that she didn't expect to hear in a while.

Her eyes widened in shock and she laid frozen on the spot.

"Stop killing yourself over what a simple pig did to you!" The voice screamed.

"It's not your fault and it's not mine either! And if you want to cry about it all day then go ahead, but I know you're better than that! What happened to the Yuna who said she didn't need a guardian and kicked me in the face to prove her point?! I know the real Yuna would've taken all the pain by now and turn into anger towards that person who caused her all of it! I know the real Yuna wouldn't disgrace her family name and lieutenant status for someone as undeserving as Omaeda!"

Yuna slowly got to her feet and turned around to face Miyako with a piercing death glare.

"Get a life." Yuna said in a low tone before turning around and walking off.

"And where do you think you're going, you brat?!" Miyako yelled after her.

A grin came on Yuna's face and she turned around slightly while still walking and said, "To get stronger!"

Miyako crossed her arms and watched Yuna leave with a proud smirk on her face. Yuna let out a sound of amusement before using her flash step to reach her destination faster with a small smile on her face. Getting to her barrack's training grounds, Yuna came to a stop. She looked at her surroundings a bit to calm herself before closing her eyes and just enjoying the light wind that suddenly blew around her.

With a sigh of relief, Yuna opened her eyes and took out her zanpakuto from its sheath. Sticking it into the ground in front of her lightly but sturdily, Yuna then sat indian style on a convenient rock behind her with her back straight and hands on her thighs. It wasn't long before she was in such deep thought that she was transported to her inner world. And was it a sight to see. Everything was covered in ice and there were actual mountains covered in snow, she was on one of them right now.

Yuna shivered visibly while rubbing her arms for warmth before setting off quickly to see Kaito Kessyou, her zanpakuto. It took her about half of an hour to get to the palace and then an hour and a half to get to the main room where Kaito was waiting for her. He sat on a throne with his legs crossed loosely and an ice crystal loosely in his hand while he turned it over and over, examining it.

"Kaito." Yuna said with a sigh to get him to speak.

Suddenly Kaito's grip on the ice crystal tightened, instantly breaking it into a million pieces from his strength with a glass shattering sound as he closed his eyes. Then he uncrossed his legs and got to his feet, walking slowly past Yuna with his eyes still closed the whole time. The sound of his shoes hitting the ice floor the only sound in the room. He went to a window of the room, which was just a hole in the wall, and put his left hand on the wall next to it.

Looking down at the floor, he sighed out.

"Why did you come, Yuna?" He asked afterwards.

"You should already know why." Yuna simply replied back.

Kaito's eyes snapped open before he lifted his head, turning completely away from her to look out at what had become of her inner world.

"I won't allow it." He then said, before turning around to face her with an icy glare.

Yuna glared at him back with glowing, aqua green eyes of anger.

"You will. Or do you want to live in a place like this forever?" Yuna said with venom in the question.

Suddenly Kaito became furious, yelling while walking toward her with an enraged look on his face, "You're the one who made it like this! It was you! Not me! Do not put your fear at my fault! You forgot about me that night and this is the price you pay! Not me, Yuna!"

Yuna looked away from him, he was now standing a foot away from her.

"I know. I know, Kaito. I was weak and I wasn't thinking right. It was all just so new to me and everything was happening so fast. And I never expected another fellow soul reaper to harm me, you know that. Could you please just forgive me this once?" Yuna then said, still avoiding his eyes.

It was silent for a moment.

"You're weak." He suddenly said, making Yuna look back into his eyes for a second before looking quickly away from his cold beholding.

She nodded in agreement while looking at the ground in shame.

"But we can fix that, can't we?" He added then in a playful tone.

Yuna looked up then with surprise written all over her face and she watched all around her in amazement as her true inner world was restored to it's original and rightful state. Once the transformation was complete, Yuna looked straight at Kaito with a dazzling smile. He gave her a handsomely crooked one in return.

"So are you ready?" He then asked before getting into a slightly crouching position as his shikai self appeared in his left hand.

He swung it by the handle expertly around his pointer finger with a sportive smile on his face, not caring that the blade was inches close from slicing his arm almost completely off. Yuna slowly looked down at her left wrist to find that the wrap around it was now gone. She stared at it in shock and started testing it out to find it completely healed. But how?