[Rukia responds with a regal hiccup. She presses a knuckle against her mouth and closes her eyes, trying to get her head to stop reeling for a few moments before she attempts to speak again.]

I'd heard that many of us were present in this place 2000 years ago. I wonder if I was there as well.

[She has no real way of knowing, unless someone happened to see her there and remember it.]

I take it you are one of the ones who will elect to stay, once this is over? You fear death?