A Hollow Crown

- Tea, Truths, and Time to Rest -

When Rukia woke up in a room of greys and whites, she thought she accidentally ended up in her inner world again. It was an unfortunate habit of hers when she got drunk to slip into Sode no Shirayuki's world, letting the Zanpakuto comfort her through her booze-induced breakdowns. Of course, Renji would often help though it was the oaf's fault for getting her tipsy! But then again, Rukia wasn't that good at relaxing.

As a Kuchiki, she had a reputation to uphold. 'Be the standard which all Shinigami strived to meet, be the pride of the Noble Firsts and maintain tradition!' was what everyone in the Kuchiki household told her.

But in this strange bedroom, Rukia didn't feel the familiar reishi of the Soul Society. No, this reishi was much more akin to... a hollow's. Her stomach dropped as she frantically looked around the room for Sode no Shirayuki, finding the zanpakuto and practically leaping out of the bed before a nail of pain drove through her skull.

Oh right, hangover headaches. Why did people get drunk if this was what happened after? Was it the fun of being drunk and saying to hell with the aftermath? Whatever it was, Rukia was too tired to figure it out. But fighting through the pain she walked, if a bit clumsily, over to her Zanpakuto. Once she had it in her grasp, she curled against the wall as she took in her surroundings.

Walls, a bed, and a floor of whites and greys. Outside the window, there was a black sky in which the only source of light was a pale crescent moon that overlooked pale sands.

She scoured her mind, trying to figure out where she was. There wasn't any architecture that matched the World of the Living and the sky... Rukia quickly figured out where she was: Hueco Mundo, the world of Hollows, though she had heard some call it a 'dead world'.

With how it looked, Rukia wasn't surprised they would give it such a moniker. A black sky and endless white sand? Sure looked like a dead world to Rukia. But she couldn't focus on that right now; she needed to get home and attend to her duties as a shinigami. Not that there'd be much for her to do, given she wasn't a seated officer.

But she was fine with that. She just needed to go through with her duties and if the higher-ups deemed her worthy of a promotion, then a promotion she would get. Wait... would getting stuck in Hueco Mundo land her in trouble?!

What if she was kicked from the 13th for this?! No, Captain Ukitake would never do something like that! He'd give her room to explain how this happened and maybe sweep it under the rug. But what if Byakuya learned of all this?!

He'd deem her too weak.

If she was too weak, then she'd be forced out of the 13th by her brother's orders.

And the word of Noble Firsts was tantamount to the word of gods, only below Reio itself in power.

Maybe it was better she stayed here?

She could grow stronger, prove herself a capable Shinigami with all the Hollows lying about and then Byakuya would have to acknowledge her as a strong Shinigami, a sister who he could take pride in... and maybe even brag about?

No, her nii-sama wasn't the type to brag. Not a soul in the Kuchiki Clan was one to brag about each other, given that would lead way to arrogance and they were the golden standard for the Soul Society, which would lead others to thinking being cocky was a good thing when it wasn't. There was a fine line between acknowledging one's skill and arrogance, a line her brother knew quite well.

But for now, she'd focus on recovering her strength. There were a few basic healing kido she had been taught at the Academy, surely one could help with her current predicament of a hangover. But the downsides to hangovers was a slightly muddled mind - who even thought drinking was fun in the first place?! - and that would make for ineffective kido incantations which could turn disastrous.