btw, Kina, you can put those crazy speculations to rest... Rukia didn't exist yet when all of this was going down. Or at least not in Seireitei. This is way in the distant past when Byakuya was still going through puberty.
The Hougyoku was placed in the gigai, Urahara gave her when Ichigo took her powers in the beginning. It was what was preventing her from regaining her powers.
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