Turn forward the pendulum arc!

(an alternate future omake. Feel free to put yourself in any position not taken except captain of the first division )

Matsuura stared blankly at the reports, his mind completely fried after having to go through several stacks of them over night due to his captains inability to manage the division properly.

"Last time, I ever make a bet like that." Matsuura grumbled as he recalled that fateful day many many years ago...


"Hah! Like you could beat me!"

"Pfft. You don't stand a chance. I got practice on this already, you're done for."

"You got practice?! From who? And you call me gay?"

"Shut up! Anything to make you my lieutenant is worth it!"

"Whatever. You ready?"

"Ready as one can ever be to do...this."

"Judges ready?"

"Ready!"

"Hehehe, lets see what you guys can do."

"Oh this should be good, I'm ready."

....


Matsuura sighed as he finished reviewing the last of the reports. Hollow numbers have been slowly increasing, he'd have to inform his captain. He got up from his desk and left his room, walking along to the 9th division captian's office.

Matsuura was lieutenant solely because of the bet...he was easily at captain level and could even fight his captain evenly, but it didn't stop his captain from gloating every chance he got.

He slid open the door to his captain's office.

"Redhead-kōhai, there's been a large increase in hollow activity and strength. I think its best we checked it out." He stated blandly as he stared at Igarashi Sakimoto, captain of the 9th division, awaiting his response.

The Ninth Division's Captain's office was a remarkably unremarkable place. It had the usual structure of any Japanese room, only that it lacked almost any substantial, or personal decoration. Not even a single decorative scroll hung on the walls apart from the Ninth Division's Seal that was on the opposite wall from the door. In the middle, there was a rather large wooden desk with a somewhat fancy wooden chair. Not that it mattered though, because no one was sitting on that chair right now. As it was, the Captain was lying across the large wooden desk. Snoring. With his Captain Haori rolled up under his head serving as a pillow.

Last night had been a long night for the redheaded man. Fishing up the nice, big fish were always tricky, not only because you had to fish them at night, but because the best spot to fish in Soul Society was a rather risky one... The fish pond inside the Kuchiki's residence. Granted, there was always a certain thrill in fishing there, specially for someone that liked challenges like Sakimoto. But even a Captain of his status would probably not live after getting caught in there. Which is why long fishings there were always tiring. Running to hide in the nearest bushes always wore a man out after doing it more than 20 times to avoid getting caught. Worst of all though, spending 3 hours there did NOT justify catching an ugly and meager Asagi Koi fish.

Good thing he always had the mornings to rest. And good thing he also had a very dutiful and obedient lieutenant that always did the boring duties for him. Igarashi had never been a fan of bets, but for once, he was so very glad he had won that one particular bet...

Quote :

"Redhead-kōhai, there's been a large increase in hollow activity and strength. I think its best we checked it out."

Igarashi twitched as he was abruptly woken up from his very important morning sleep. Of course, things were never perfect. And even after hundreds of years, Matsuura had never let up his nasty habit of annoying Igarashi whenever he could. Slowly opening his eyes, Igarashi lazily got up from his makeshift bed as he stifled a yawn.

"Boy... those hollows never rest, do they? It is quite annoying for those of us who do..." Igarashi then grabbed his captain Haori, unrolling it before putting it back on. He never really liked wearing that thing, seemed an unnecessary extra piece of clothing. But of course, what would the rest of Soul Society say if he didn't use it? and even Igarashi had to admit. Getting looks of respect just by wearing it was always satisfactory.

Igarashi then grabbed his Zanpakutou from the side of the desk, and walked towards the exit, Giving a firm pat on the shoulder at Matsu as he walked past him. "So... where exactly is this place we should check out?"

Matsuura waited patiently as Igarashi put on his captains haori and grabbed his zanpakutou, walking by him in a calm stride and patting him on the shoulder before asking,

Igarashi wrote:

"So... where exactly is this place we should check out?"

Matsuura spun promptly and followed him out of the office, sliding the door closed behind them.

"Somewhere in the forests of the 7th district of Rukongai, last report was from our 5th seat, Suzuhashi Takahiro. That was over 2 hours ago." Matsuura called forth a hell butterfly.

"All 9th division seated officers, please proceed to the 7th district of Rukongai near Shirohayahsi. Await further orders once you arrive."

The two quickly made their way out of the 9th Division headquarters, eliciting many stares and whispers. Matsuura had earned himself the reputation of the White Demon, Igarashi although having calmed since becoming captain was still often times referred to as the Crimson Demon. Together they were the Demons of the 9th division to anyone who didn't know them well.

"I'm slightly worried, he hasn't reported since. This might be worse than previously thought." He stated as they used shunpo to quickly traverse across Seireitei. The worst thing was he knew this would draw attention, lieutenants, much less captains rarely left Seireitei unless something very major was going on. But by the reports these were no ordinary hollows...could...the arrancar have returned? No, that was ridiculous, they were taken care of ages ago in a battle that resulted in the loss of several of Soul Society's captains and lieutenants.

"Takahiro, eh?" Igarashi mused as they left the headquarters. Igarashi knew that Keitaro, Takahiro's elder bother, was an acquaintance of Matsuura. It was understandable if Matsuura was worried about him, but Igarashi also wondered if that had any extra weight on Matsuura's decision of checking those forests. Traveling like this in plain morning wasn't exactly standard procedure. And while igarashi wasn't really one to give a rat's ass about protocol. he also wasn't looking forward to respond to the general, and... her, if this turned out to be just a simple case of common hollows roaming about. Still, despite his glaring differences, Igarashi had learned to trust Matsuura's judgment. Besides Normal hollows or not, Igarashi was never one to complain about seeing some extra action. Maybe he wasn't the 11th Division Captain, but he sure did enjoy a fight as much as anyone in that division.

As they neared the seventh district, Igarashi also secretly hoped that no one from the Kidou corps would be nearby as they used shunpo... He knew all too well what would happen if he happened to stumble around her like this without addressing the correct Sereitei protocol...

Matsuura landed softly beside Igarashi, hand at the ready and keeping alert. Something felt off, something he couldn't place and he had the feeling Igarashi felt it too. He didn't like this feeling one bit. They stood before the wall of white birch trees that made up the Shirohayahsi, awaiting the arrival of the seated members of their division.

He pulled out a cigarette, stuffing it in his mouth and lighting it. He had taken to smoking sparingly as of late, he was constantly nagged that it was bad for his health. As if being a lieutenant wasn't.

"So, you manage to catch anything last night? I've been meaning to try out making a koi soup." He tried to relax the situation, opening up like this had become rare for him, usually only in the presence of friends or close allies like Igarashi.

Igarashi had indeed felt something off when they arrived to the wall. But that wasn't the reason his face looked nervous right now. If anything, the feeling of that odd sensation was more welcome than the other thing he was dreading right now. He was sure someone noticed them coming here, someone that should'nt have... Sill, there was no point worrying forever about it, what's done is done.

Quote :

"So, you manage to catch anything last night? I've been meaning to try out making a koi soup."

Igarashi grimaced a little at Matsuura's question for various reasons: First, he was smoking, and habit that up to this date still annoyed Igarashi. Secondly, something about being asked about his supposedly clandestine pastime in an open space always made him feel uncomfortable, Igarashi had learned over the years that you could never know who could be listening. And third, and the main reason Igarashi's face twisted for a second was the mention of the word "cook" coming out from Matsuura. Now THAT, was never a good sign, Igarashi would swear his life had been put more in peril when trying something from matsu's cooking than when actually dealing with hollows.

"Ah... about that..." Igarashi shyly scratched his head. "They were kinda feisty yesterday... and I only managed to catch a meager Asagi fish, not nearly a good catch, specially to make soup." Igarashi responded, secretly hoping that the mention of a meager fishing would deter Matuura from wanting to cook fish, his dishes were already toxic without them.

A figure watched the Ninth Captain and his lieutenant. As usual, heading off to some battle or situation, without telling her.

The figure continued moving forward, sneaking on the Captain's trajectory with a couple of flash steps. Best to give him a talking to first, not that it ever did much good. Pointing a finger at him, the figure muttered, "Way of Binding 61: Six Rods of Light," before leaping down before the pair.

Rikiki Sakimoto, lieutenant of Kidou Corps, smiled at her husband. "Just where are you going, dear?"

Igarashi's face froze with a very painful expression carved in it. That spell alone was always nasty, but more than that, it was what it meant. His previous fear had turned into a reality. He knew, in the back of his head, he always knew that no matter how hard he tried, she was always keeping an eye on him.

Quote :

"Just where are you going, dear?"

Igarashi tried his best to make his face twist into a fake smile as he saw his wife approach them. Nothing good could come out of this. "Oh! 'Kiki-chan! Good morning!" Igarashi replied as cheerfully as possible, as if trying to tone down the punishment he knew that was coming at him. As if failing to arrive at home yesterday had not been bad enough... "You see... Ryou-kun here has alerted me of some Increased hollow activity in Shirohayahsi, so we decided it would be best if we checked it out before it could Pose a serious threat to the Sereitei"

At this point, Igarashi closed his eyes and grinned in an apologetic manner to Rikiki. He knew she wasn't gonna buy it, but that wasn't going to stop him for trying. He loved her so much, but he also knew that there was nothing scarier than to see her pissed.

Matsuura remained silent the entire time as the events unraveled before him. It had become almost commonplace in his life...as unfortunate as that is to say. He dropped the butt of his cigarette to the ground and stamped it out, the various seated members of their division having now gathered, many watching the spectacle with amusement, others with annoyance. He turned to address them while Igarashi and his wife went about their business.

"2 hours ago we received a report from 5th Seat, Suzuhashi Takahiro, that he and a group of non seated shinigami encountered a dangerous group of hollow somewhere in this forest during their regular patrols. We have no heard from him since. We are to assume the worst, that they may very well have been killed. Stay on your guard and stick together, I do not want anyone wandering off and trying to play hero. If you encounter one of the hollow in question and see that you are no match for it, retreat. I would rather not have to deal with any deaths today. That is all, move out."

The seated shinigami quick dispersed into the forest, leaving the three behind.

"Shall I go on ahead or do you intend on wrapping this up soon?" He asked Igarashi calmly.

Igarashi Sakimoto wrote:

"Oh! 'Kiki-chan! Good morning! You see... Ryou-kun here has alerted me of some Increased hollow activity in Shirohayahsi, so we decided it would be best if we checked it out before it could Pose a serious threat to the Sereitei"

Rikiki smirked at this. Same excuse every time, and never actually got the point of the thing. That was her husband, bless him. But, then again, she wouldn't have had him any other way. Besides, it was so cute watching him flounder about.

"You might want to try actually going through the right procedures every now and then. Gives some of us an idea of where you're going. Of course, I wouldn't reccomend it next time you go off to the Kuchiki's to fish at night. They might not approve." Rikiki grinned wide at this, leaving Igarashi to wonder how in the world she knew that.

Unfortunately, Matsuura cut into her fun.

Matsuura Ryou wrote:

"Shall I go on ahead or do you intend on wrapping this up soon?"

Rikiki sighed, casting Dispel on her husband. "Yes, yes, you'd best get going. Also, Iggy, I'd rather you came home in one piece, (and in time for dinner) so before you two go," Rikiki flexed out her fingers again. "Way of Binding 38: Metallius!"

With that, she waved them off, and watched them run off, before slinking away. She had her own work to do as well.

Rikiki Sakimoto wrote:

"You might want to try actually going through the right procedures every now and then. Gives some of us an idea of where you're going. Of course, I wouldn't reccomend it next time you go off to the Kuchiki's to fish at night. They might not approve." Rikiki grinned wide at this, leaving Igarashi to wonder how in the world she knew that.

Igarashi's mouth gaped open at this. He was certain that no one had followed him when he did that, and he was quite good at covering his tracks. To worsen the situation, most of his division had now arrived at this point. Further increasing Igarashi's flustered state, and prompting him to give a pleading look at Rikiki to let him go, as if saying with his mind: Honey... please, not in front of the division...

His plead went unanswered, but luckily for him, Matsuura intervened in his stead now, yielding a far more positive effect on his wife, which briefly made Igarashi question his actual influence over her.

Rikiki Sakimoto wrote:

Rikiki sighed, casting Dispel on her husband. "Yes, yes, you'd best get going. Also, Iggy, I'd rather you came home in one piece, (and in time for dinner) so before you two go," Rikiki flexed out her fingers again. "Way of Binding 38: Metallius!"

Igarashi smiled sheepishly as her wife surrounded both him and Matsuura with that protective spell. it was rather embarrassing, but he always ended up forgetting his dread of seeing her mad when she acted like this, showing that she cared. And that was one of the reasons he loved her so. "Thanks luv! but that wasn't necessary, I will be back before you know it!" He winked at her before moving ahead to catch up with Matsuura and the rest of the division. Pretending as if nothing embarrassing had happened before that.

"so... do you have any notion about Takahiro's possible last known position in the forest before he lost contact?" Igarashi asked to his lieutenant, now entering the skirts of the forest and watching some of the members scouting the perimeter ahead. "We might have a better chance of knowing what happened if we head straight there instead of standing back and scouting random areas of the forest."

Igarashi Sakimoto wrote:

"so... do you have any notion about Takahiro's possible last known position in the forest before he lost contact?" Igarashi asked to his lieutenant, now entering the skirts of the forest and watching some of the members scouting the perimeter ahead. "We might have a better chance of knowing what happened if we head straight there instead of standing back and scouting random areas of the forest."

"It's Takahiro not Keitaro we're talking about here Igara, we're lucky the cocky little bastard even reported in in the first place." Matsuura responded with a sigh. "Sometimes I wonder how he even made it to 5th seat..."

They took a steady path forward as their division fanned out.


Meanwhile, deeper in the forest.

"Crap, he hits harder then you'd think." Takahiro mumbled as he ducked behind a tree, holding onto his now broken left arm. He was as far as he knew the sole survivor of his patrol, they had been ambushed while doing a standard sweep through the forest. Takahiro shuddered as he recalled the blood...it was everywhere.... they never stood a chance. This was no ordinary hollow. "I guess I'll just have to take him out now."

He spun back around the tree to face his opponent, pointing his zanpakutou at him.

"Flow and crush, Utimake!"




"Sir! We've found them!"

Igarashi and Matsuura glanced at each other briefly before rushing to their left where the call originated from. They caught up to a shinigami that looked sick to her stomach as she pointed ahead to a small clearing. They could already tell something was very wrong. The clearing's color contrasted greatly from the white of the forest. The grass was darkened to almost black, the trees coated in black, several of their seated officers were standing over the various remains strewn about the clearing. Matsuura threw a glance at Igarashi as if to say, See....something was up.

"I want everyone out of this forest now. I want its perimeter secured immediately, if that means gathering the rest of 9th division then do so. We'll handle it from here." Matsuura barked the order, the shinigami leaving right away. He sighed with relief inwardly as he noted Takahiro was not among the deceased. They still had time, he hoped.

There!

He felt it, he knew it. He glanced over to somewhere far to the right. That was...Takahiro's reiatsu! Igarashi felt it too, they nodded to each other before taking off in its direction.

Please let us not be too late... I really don't feel like giving Keitaro any bad news today...

A young boy, looking to be about 7 years old, looked up to his mother. Being much older than he appears to be, he speaks to her in a polite manner. "Honorable mother, what are you looking at?"

Lieutenant Maka Takeshi gaze out in the distance, knowing that someone had just pulled two highly skilled kidou spells outside the walls of Seireitei. She didn't answer her son right away; instead, the commander of the Patrol Corps tried to pick up the reitsu of who ever casted those spells from a far distance. Lieutenent Takeshi, formally known as Kasahara, rested her hands on the shoulders of her boy as she kept staring off. "Nothing, Shuu-chan. It's nothing."

She pulled her attention away from the unseen commotion outside Seireitei, now knowing that there were three familiar reitsu's that were sitting in that area. A fond smile eased onto her face as she let go of the child and moved forward, patrolling the streets of Seireitei. Her son followed closely behind dutifully.

Shuichi was his name. Shuichi Takeshi. The child held his father's sandy blond hair and delicate pale skin, but also has his mother's soft brown eyes. His clothes consists of a white robe that told others that he was in training. Although he was not enrolled in the academy yet, there were high hopes for the young Takeshi. After all, he was the son of the 13th division's Captain and the Lieutenant of the 2nd division.

Lt. Takeshi took her son everywhere with her; today was no different. Who could she trust to watch her precious burden? A mother and son so closely bonded that they shared a comfortable silence together as they walked through the streets.

"Will we visit father today?"

There was little hope in Shuichi's voice. Over the years, he learned that it was best to leave his father in his research and visits to the living world. Captain Takeshi was always busy with something. It was an obsession. Lt. Takeshi was surprised that her little Shuu-chan would ask, knowing that they'd probably get in the way of her husband's work. It's been a while since they visited him and only a few days since he came home. With Captain Takeshi working long hours without rest, Lt. Takeshi did feel a little lonely at home at night. "Sure. I'm sure there won't be any harm in a little visit. Maybe he'll be in the facilities today."



Upon arriving at division 13's section of Seireitei, Lt. Kasahara soon found herself infront of a large, but modest looking building. She knocked on the door and waited for a low ranked member of the 13th division opened the door. Just by looking past the officer, the Leiutenent can see that the lobby was cluttered with charts and maps of recent hollow attacks on the living world.

"Ah! Leuitenent Takeshi-dono! Shuichi-kun! What are you doing here?"

Trying to keep a serious expression on her face, she replied. "I need to speak with Captain Takeshi. Is he here?"

With a positive response, the officer ushed both the Leutenant and her son inside and lead them to a spacious room with hollow reports filling every corner.

"Honorable Father?"

Chiken sat in his office, horribly bored. He wanted to be doing something fun, but instead he had to be in his office as usual. Being captain of the Kidou Corps was only fun when you got to do kidou, at least, that's what Chiken thought.
He looked down at his desk to look at the paperwork he had been doing (Well... saying Chiken was doing paperwork is mostly a lie. Someone else (Chiken never even bothered to figure out who) had filled it all out except for one single line, the line Chiken had to put his signature stating that he approved it. Everyone already knew he never actually read them, but that was one rule they couldn't work around.). Mindlessly, and without reading the paper (see, we told you he doesn't bother to read the thing), he signed it and moved on to the next one.

This would continue for a few minutes until Chiken saw something interesting out the window and stopped to look, or he was done with them all. This time, the latter was what happened first. He ushered all the papers together and set them in their own pile in the 'magic container'. Chiken called it that because they would be in there until he would leave the room for something, and when he came back they'd usually be gone. He has never figured out how it happens and has even spent a whole night watching them, but they'd never pull their trick unless Chiken was out of the room. Still, it got the paperwork delivered somehow, so he decided that however it did it, it was doing it right so it didn't bother him too much.

Rubbing his eyes, Chiken stood up. He looked out the window and sighed. Now that he finished the papers, he really did have nothing to do. He started to watch a squirrel run across the ground when an idea came to him. Smiling, he started the incantation. "Way of Binding 94: Golden Bridge!"

Chiken once again felt the familiar odd tug of being pulled away by one of his favorite kidou spells and smiled. He blinked, and then he was right next to his lieutenant, Rikiki. He didn't even bother looking around to see where he was.
"Rikiki, I finished the paperwork and now I'm bored!"

Takeshi threw his arms up in frustration, sending a cloud of papers scattering about his office, creating a mess the 13th Division Captain would have to deal with later. For now he was trying to relax the aggravation overwhelming him at yet another failure to uncover the news he wanted. Raising his eyes from the mess of paper now decorating his office, he focused his wandering gaze instead on first the various papers pinned over the walls, and than to the filing cabinets occupying the entirety of the office's right wall, each cabinet was filled with papers, all pertaining to the same thing as every other paper. Those papers, the papers now adorning his office, and another set of papers filed into the drawers on the right-hand side of his desk, they all pertained to the same topic. They were all about Hollows.

Hollow Reports were occupying almost all storage space in Takeshi's office, with Reports both recent and long outdated filed away in his cabinets. The 13th Division Captain had long been seeking out these reports and he took it personally upon himself to read every Report that passed through his Division, and even sought out reports that may not have normally come to the 13th. Takeshi had been scouring Hollow Reports even before his appointment to office, and even took care to attend as many on the field missions as he could, which was the vast majority of them. Even after becoming Captain, Takeshi usually made the time for Hollows.

In all of his apparent dedication to his work, Takeshi had an ulterior motivation, one he seldom discussed, but was frequently occupying his mind. Takeshi was looking in all his papers, and all his field missions, he was hunting in them, hunting desperately for the Hollow he knew so well. Takeshi's life had become and obsessive hunting of Sigil, he spent little time on anything else, and was very seldom willing to risk missing a chance to find, and kill the beastly Hollow who he'd vowed to kill back in his days as a Cadet. And the frustration of being unable to do it was beginning to overwhelm him.

Heaving a sigh, Takeshi was kneeling down to begin picking up the papers, when a familiar voice sounded out from the entrance to his office.

"Honorable Father?"

Takeshi raised his head and stood upright as he took notice of his family standing at the entrance of the room. He smiled when he saw them, despite the little amounts of time he spent with them; he really was fond of Maka and Shuichi, however he was unfortunately much more accustomed to making the time for Hollows than his loved ones. Smiling pleasantly, he spoke to them. “Hello Maka-chan, Shuichi-chan!” Directing his attention towards his child, Takeshi spoke again, “So, why’ve you come here today, Shuichi?”

“We came to visit you, father”, responded Shuichi, politely as always, “I wanted to see you.”
Takeshi became remotely distressed as it actually occurred to him how little he saw of them and how much time he spent instead chasing after his Hollow. He didn’t want to give up his obsessive hunt and he knew he wouldn’t, but any news that arrived tonight would still be waiting for him in the morning, and he could surely spend at least today with his family? Mentally assuring himself of this notion, he extended them an offer;

“Alright than, I’ve done all I need to do for now, so how about I spend the rest of the day with you? Does that sound good?”

After returning from scolding her husband, Rikiki had returned to the Kido Corps offices, to face a pile of paperwork only slightly smaller than her captain's daily meals. Having Chiken for a captain left an ungodly amount of work for Rikiki. Fortunately, there were other methods of getting it done. Hefting most of the work up, she bundled it with a string, and attached a note. It read, "For 3rd Seat Keitaro Suzuhashi" in loopy cursive. She then sat down to begin the dramatically smaller amount of work, when a farmiliar crackle of reiatsu apparated at her left. So much for paperwork.

Chiken Kazenosei wrote:

Chiken once again felt the familiar odd tug of being pulled away by one of his favorite kidou spells and smiled. He blinked, and then he was right next to his lieutenant, Rikiki. He didn't even bother looking around to see where he was.
"Rikiki, I finished the paperwork and now I'm bored!"

"Ah, hey Captain Chiken. Do you wanna, ah..." Rikiki scanned the room for something that would hold his attention. Fountain pen? No, Chiken had sprayed the last one into the white carpet. Box of matches? Not even to be considered... Rikiki's eyes fell onto a locked drawer. That would do. She unlocked and opened the drawer, which was really solid, with a circle carved in it. Rikiki continued, "...wanna check in on Iggy with me?

"Ah, hey Captain Chiken. Do you wanna, ah..." Rikiki unlocked and opened the drawer, which was really solid, with a circle carved in it. She continued, "...wanna check in on Iggy with me?

Chiken looked at the drawer, wondering what it was for. It looked barely familiar, like something he had used before, but it didn't come out of a desk. Still, it was something to do and it filled Chiken with excitement. He smiled and nodded in reply to Rikiki's question, "Is he out doing something? I remember you saying something about him 'fishing' before, is that what he's doing? Hey... just what is fishing anyway?" Chiken's curiosity hadn't been changed at all since his days as a cadet.

Chiken Kazenosei wrote:

He smiled and nodded in reply to Rikiki's question, "Is he out doing something? I remember you saying something about him 'fishing' before, is that what he's doing? Hey... just what is fishing anyway?"

Rikiki blinked. Evven she had a hard time keeping up with Chiken's roaming train of thought. "Ah, fishing? It's well... you catch fish, with a line and hook. I'm sure Iggy will show you sometime."

Rikiki returned her attention to the solid drawer. Focusing her reiatsu on it, the cirle began to glow faintly. Rikiki placed her hands on either sides, settling in the places where this action had worn down the wood. "Way of Binding 58: Summon the Tracking Sparrows!"

At once, the whole cirle lit up brightly, and a grid appeared in the circle, constantly zooming out. Rikiki counted grid numbers as it went "26, 43, 70, 89, 111, 12- ah! There we are!" Rikiki indicated to Chiken, "See? Moving towards 7th district and Shirohayahsi. Just as he said." Rikiki settled back a bit, so that Chiken could watch the little red dot that was Igarashi (and the other, near equally sized reiatsu of Matsuura leading the way) move along.

And he wondered how she always knew.

Igarashi sped as fast as he was able to towards the spot in which they both felt Takahiro's reiatsu. As they got near, Igarashi also felt that odd sensation getting stronger. It felt like a powerful reiatsu... but of a different kind. Whoever was fighting against Takahiro was incredibly strong, and Igarashi feared that Takahiro would not be able to stand a chance much longer. They were just a few seconds away now though...


"Kekekeke! it's futile! you stupid Shinigami! Even transforming your sword into a fancy little glaive won't save you!" A stringent, but very distorted voice spoke. It was now facing Takahiro directly, just a few meters aways from him. Finally showing itself as he was too fast before. It had the shape of a rather human... but with a yellow odd tail and fox-like ears. And was now charging some sort of energy near it's head.

"Indeed! you are nothing but a worm compared to us! And now, playtime's over!" A graver, but still heavily distorted voice followed, standing right next to the other figure. This one was slightly taller, but with a very similar shape and features, just in a dark gray tone. He raised his fist to chest level just before shouting: "Bala!"

A glow of dark red energy was released from it's arm, hitting Takahiro square in the chest before he could even have a chance to react. he had managed to stand on his feet so far, but that blast of energy had hurt him bad, sending him sprawling to the floor. "Kuh.. dammit!" Takahiro cursed, even as stubborn as he was, he knew he wouldn't be able to move fat enough...

"CERO!" The first figure shouted, sending a huge blast of energy towards Takahiro. That was it... Even he felt it now, there was no way he could survive that...

"Not so fast!"

Out of apparently nowhere, Matsuura slid infront of Takahiro, his blade clashing with the Cero, struggling for a moment before deflecting it skyward. He quickly sheathed his sword before looking back at Takahiro

"Can you move?"

"Ye-yes." He stammered, he wasn't expecting the captain or lieutenant to show up, much less both of them.

"Good, get out of here. We'll take care of them." Matsuura ordered, before turning to face the Hollows in front of him, though Igarashi was now a step ahead of him. Knowing that Matsuura would take care of the cero, Igarashi decided to appear in front and close to the both figures, curious to know why they knew those moves.He leaned towards them, looking at their faces as if he was contemplating two monuments in a museum rather than some potentially deadly enemies. Up close, it was revealed that they had no actual faces, but in it's stead, two white masks that resembled that of Kitsune masks, only, one with a twisted and demonic grin, and the other forming a disfigured scowl.

"Hmm...how weird... these guys are able to use such advanced hollow techniques, but they don't even have a single part of their mask broken. They can't possibly be arrancars... can they?" Igarashi asked out loud at Matsuura, still looking at both hollows as if they posed no threat at all to him.

"Maybe they're in their Resurrección state?" Matsuura replied blandly, his mind really was elsewhere, he didn't think to put much thought into them, they'd be dead soon enough.

"Arrancar?!How dare you insult us you lowly shinigami worm!" The scowling Hollow spat at Igarashi, baring his claws in rage.

"Kekekeke! Arrancar? Us? Hah, you're a fool for thinking we're mere Arrancar! For a captain you must be very weak or very stupid to regard us as pushovers like you are!" The grinning Hollow stated with a devilish glee.

Together they both rushed at Igarashi, slashing and kicking at him, Igarashi deftly dodging or parrying each strike, but he saw he was quickly being overwhelmed by the two of them together. Matsuura took the opportunity to move behind them, aiming at the scowling hollow and delivering a large slash to its back.

Clang!

The blade met the claws of the grinning one, Matsuura's eyes lighting up briefly in surprise.

They're fast...very.

"Well if you're not Arrancar. What are you?" Matsuura questioned calmly as he leaped back, sword at the ready. Igarashi did the same, the two Hollow stuck between them.

"We are Hollow, is it not obvious? You are not worthy of knowing why we are here. I will grace you with our names, the names of the ones to kill you both. I am Grigio Volpe and he is my brother, Giallo Volpe!" Grigio rushed at at Igarashi as Giallo rushed at Matsuura. Matsuura slid back from the force of the impact, once again his eyes lighting up in brief surprise.

They're strong too...they must be some sort of Menos...

"Kekeke! Take this! And This! And that! Feel the sting of my claws!"

Giallo kept the pressure on Matsuura, pushing him back till he was against a tree. He went for a large slash, Matsuura ducking and dodging past Giallo as he cut the tree into slices.

"Heh, you're stronger than we assumed. But you shouldn't be much of a match regardless. Allow me to impart my name, the name of the one that shall kill you Giallo Volpe. I am Matsuura Ryou, the White Demon." He rushed at Giallo, pushing the Hollow back with his own series of attacks.

Hikaru Sato was a man on a mission. Well, not really a mission. It was work. Alright, so maybe that wasn't true either. Nobody had hired him to do this job, but it was important. Hikaru was a seasoned private investigator, and the 300-something detective knew a conspiracy and cover-up when he saw one.

But even so... will this be worth it? He steeled himself and, nerves tense, knocked once on the wood of the sliding door.

"..." There was no response.

He tried again. And again. Finally, irritated, he raised his fist to knock much more firmly this time. He quickly moved forward and

RRIIIIIIIIIIIP

Hikaru stared agape at his hand, which had just gone through the right side of the door.

Suddenly, the relative quiet of the scene was interrupted by a piercing feminine shriek, "What the! A thief!" The voice went silent. Hikaru stood frozen as a pair of feet ran rapidly down the hall of the house. "You bastard! Look at what you've done to my door! I'll show you to try to break into other people's houses!"

"No, wait, Ma'am, it's a mistake, I-" but Hikaru was cut off as the woman viciously slammed the door open, crushing his hand into the other side. "I-i-i-itai!" he cried, crouching against the wall and nursing his hand, which he was sure was broken in at least a few places. The woman, clearly a maid, leaned out the doorway, smirking, "Ha! That's what you get for breaking and entering, asshole! You-"

Suddenly she took in Hikaru's clothing. His brown trenchcoat and trademark detective hat. And her eyes widened considerably. "You!" she roared, "It's you! I thought I told you never to come back here. Get out of here, now, before I call the police! Hey, you deaf or something, idiot? I said to get off of Hizawa proper-"

But Hikaru wasn't paying attention. Suddenly he sprang up into the threshold of the open door, beaming. "Oh, ma'am, could you answer a few questions for me? Please Ma'am, it'll only take a few minutes of your time." The woman scowled. "'No" means no, you prying bastard. I'm not going to answer any of your damn questions about Hizawa-sama's-"

"Is it true that he took control of the local black market by using his position to lock away his competitors?" Hikaru asked, ignoring her completely, "That's what he did, isn't it?" he didn't wait for her to respond, "Of course he did! That's how he got all the slavers to leave town so quickly! He paid them off, didn't he? I knew he was too slimy to rise to power like an honest man! That evil bastard, manipulating the citizens of Rukongai like that! They say he's dead, but I know better!"

The woman had been getting progressively redder as he went on, and when he paused, she marched over to him, pointing angrily. "Now you listen here, you cretin," she growled, poking him hard in the chest for emphasis, "First of all, Hizawa-sama would never have done anything of the sort. He loved the people of Rukongai, and dedicated his entire life to their betterment. We can never thank him enough for that, something that you seem to have forgotten!" She paused for a moment, taking a deep breath, before continuing, "And second, get your facts straight! Hizawa-sama drove those monsters out of town because he saw what they were doing to innocent people. And you seem to be forgetting that he did all of that before he 'rose to power', as you put it."

"Oh yeah?" Hikaru smirked, his eyes glinting in challenge, "Well, why did he go looking for more people to fill seats during his term then, huh? It was obviously all planned from the beginning, and nothing good will come of that man's legacy!" Hikaru sucked in a breath, and puffed up his chest proudly, "And if you'll just let me in the house, then I, Sato Hikaru-sama, the World's Greatest Detective, will prove it!"

By now the woman was shaking, fists clenched and barely restraining herself from beating this arrogant punk into a pulp. "You're crazy!" she exclaimed, her voice beginning to rise to match her ire, "Hizawa-sama died for Rukongai!" Her eyes narrowed dangerously, "I'm not going to listen to any more of your nonsense, you lunatic," she ground out, "Leave. Now."

"You're just blind to the truth!" Hikaru began raving, gesturing wildly, "You're afraid! Afraid that your precious savior will turn out to be a evil, power-crazed-!"

"Shut up!" the maid bellowed, finally at her limit.

"Excuse me, Miyuki-san," a gravelly old voice spoke from just beside the door, "What is going on here?"

"Eep!" Miyuki squeaked, balking at the realization that her elderly master had just seen her lose her composure like that, "H-h-hizawa-sama! What are you doing up at this time in the morning?"

Anshou strode down the halls of the headquarters, his Liuetenent's badge tight around his arm, carrying a report. He was on a mission, though his commanding officer probably knew about it already. He knocked on the office door.

"Enter," said a gruff voice.

Anshou opened the large door with a creak. "Good morning, sir. I've come with the report on the hollows in Rukongai.

A breeze blew through the wide, spacious room, rippling the large flag on the wall, momentarily hiding the single stroke down the center of the diamond. General Yamamoto didn't move from his spot gazing out over the landscape of Sereitei. "Thank you, Liuetenent Kijou," he said. "But I'm already aware of the situation. Ninth Division is currently investigating."

Anshou Kijou scratched his head and smiled. "Then there's nothing we have to worry about. Captain Sakimoto can deal with anything out there." But the General didn't say anything. "Are... you worried, sir? I can deploy 3rd and 11th Division to back them up if you think it's necessary."

The General shook his head. "Contact Captains Kira and Madarame and have them stand by, but don't give the order to deploy yet. These... are no ordinary hollows."

Anshou bowed deeply toward the General. "At once, sir."

Matsuura Ryou wrote:

"Heh, you're stronger than we assumed. But you shouldn't be much of a match regardless. Allow me to impart my name, the name of the one that shall kill you Giallo Volpe. I am Matsuura Ryou, the White Demon." He rushed at Giallo, pushing the Hollow back with his own series of attacks.

Igarashi glared at Matsuura when he heard him call himself by that nickname with such pride, Igarashi wasn't certainly fond of being called the "Crimson Demon", and he much less liked to boast like that. At the same time he parried at dodged the swipes coming from Grigio Volpe, without really paying that much attention to him. Despite the fact that the two hollows had put him in a tight spot earlier, Igarashi wasn't feeling that threatened now that he was fighting against only one, apparently being more interested in watching Matsuura's fight than his own. Much to the irritation of his opponent.

"Kah! stop ignoring me! you worm!" Enraged, Grigio put more force into his swipes, making Igarashi lose some ground but still not reacting greatly towards his opponent. Then, the gray Fox-like hollow launched a a cross-swipe with both of his arms, forcing Igarashi to block and push him backwards and then suddenly appearing behind Igarashi, delivering a fierce roundhouse with with his clawed feet to Igarashi's back, sending him crashing into a tree. "Kahaha! take that you stupid Captain! This is what happen when you don't take us seriously!" Grigio laughed triumphantly, sure that he had badly injured his opponent with that attack.

Instead, Igarashi easily picked himself up from the now shattered tree behind him. Dusting his White Haori off and shaking his head a little "Whew... this could have gotten messy... Good thing my darling wife thought ahead with that little spell of hers, else my Haori would have gotten torn, and she sure wouldn't be happy knowing she would have to sew it again." Igarashi calmly stepped towards a both surprised and enraged Grigio, if the hollow were able to exaggerate even more the already twisted scowl in his face, this would probably be a prime time to do it. "You are are full of hot steam, aren't you? I guess I could sympathize, I used to be like that at one time, not good for your nerves thou-"

"SHUT UP! SHUT UP ALREADY!" The hollow cut him off, sending a Bala straight at Igarashi. But he was long gone when the blast hit the space of air Igarashi was on just a millisecond ago. " So, you really want to go down that road. Fine" Igarashi spoke directly at one of the big gray fox ears of Griggio, but this time, with a colder tone in his voice. The hollow immediately spun around, only to find Igarashi already slashing directly at his body, The hollow was very fast, and managed to avoid getting cut down in half by such slash, but still managed to receive a gash on the edge of his left shoulder.

"GRHRAGH! Shit!!!" Griggio cursed, quickly dashing away from Igarashi, clearly shaken about that last attack. "Bastard! just who are you??? He screamed as he clutched his wounded left shoulder.

Igarashi merely chuckled. "I think, that my name is the last thing you should be concerned with right now."

Nanao Ise sighed as she prepared to send another report awaiting clearance by Kidou Corps Captain Chiken Kazenosei to be sent to the human realm. She knew this wouldn't be a problem, the captain had the somewhat infamous habit of signing approval on everything that made it to his desk. The destination was set to Urahara's shop, like always. She assumed General Yamamoto did not question the reports as he had tasked her with keeping him informed on all major events because of his great involvement and assistance during the Aizen Incident.

What he didn't know was she also wrote to her former commander, Shunsui Kyouraku. He had had a falling out with General Yamamoto about his retiring, causing him to go into hiding but he still felt a sort of responsibility to Soul Society.

She got up slowly from her desk, adjusting her glasses as she walked out of her office, calling forth a subordinate and handing them the report. "Take this to the Kidou Corps."

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Tsubasa Kurosaki was grumbling as he walked down the 4th division ward, his Lieutenant close at his heels. The increased hollow activity over the past two months had left a lot of shinigami injured and was starting to put a strain on the 4th division.

"How many beds have been taken this week?" He asked, rubbing his stubble. He hadn't had a chance to shave in a few days and it had started to show.

"Ah...23 sir." Hanatarou reported, checking through the various files in the clipboard he had. "You..you know sir. The last time we had this many injured..."


"I know, I know Hanatarou, my parents were involved in saving Soul Society. You've told me a million times."

"Ah yes, you've said, but truely we're lucky you're so skilled at healing and managing all of this."

Tsubasa stopped at a bed, checking the chart by it. "Hollow attack 2 weeks ago?...Why is he still in this condition?"

"Ah...er. We think he was poisoned with some sort of toxin, but we haven't been able to counteract it with kidou yet. It's put him in a coma, but we can't tell what else it's done if anything at all." The Attending 4th Division member stated.

"Are there any other like this?" Tsubasa asked Hanatarou as he put the chart back.

"Ah..." He flipped through the clipboard "Yes, three others."

"Gather all files on the four and send them to my office immediately." Tsubasa stated as he departed back to his office deep in thought.

"Right away sir!" Hanatarou stated quickly rushing off to gather the papers together.

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The courier knocked on the 13th division captain's door apprehensively. He had seen that his family had gone inside and he had heard from the 13th division that one did not interfere in times like these unless something extremely serious had occurred, like say.... all of Soul Society burning down. Not for a letter and report. Even if they were marked as extremely urgent by his direct superior officer, Lieutenant Matsuura. But he knew better, one did not cross Lieutenant Matsuura, the White Demon, unless they had a death warrant signed. In fact Matsuura had told him to directly deliver it to Captain Takeshi or else.

He had peeked at the letter on his way over, despite knowing it was against the rules, who would notice? Or care? Hopefully no one he hoped beyond hope.

The hollow..... could be connected to..... I knew you have been searching.....hope this helps somewhat.... report covers everything I've gathered

The door slid open as he was once again looking down at the letter, he looked up quickly and gulped deeply. There before him stood a slightly agitated looking Lieutenant of the 2nd Division, Maka Kasahara.

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"I don't think this is such a wise idea." The man stated, shaking his head sadly.

"Why not? This is the perfect time. We cannot pass this up!" The lady urged as she slammed her hands on the table, pushing up and out of her chair.

"As much as I hate to admit it, I believe she's right. The time is perfect." A second man sighed as he rubbed his brow, looking over the papers on the desk.

"Indeed, we do this now or we have to wait a long time for another chance."

"Excellent, I shall inform the others." The lady flashed a grin and left the room, leaving the other three to their devices.

"We're going to regret doing this, I just know it." The first man sighed as he leaned back in his chair.

"Then we can only hope you're mistaken. It's time he was removed."

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"Hmph. You aren't even a challenge." Matsuura stated with some disappointment as he continued to deal attack after attack, Giallo visibly struggling to manage, being pushed back, as Matsuura pushed him farther and farther away from Igarashi and Grigio.

"Kyah! You shouldn't underestimate me! You're a mere Lieutenant!" Giallo retorted, back flipping to dodge an attack and taking the momentum to spring forward, slamming into Matsuura quickly and causing them to tumble and roll on the ground, fighting for control. They slammed to a stop against a tree getting separated on the impact as Matsuura's zanpakutou rolled away. They exchanged glances briefly before both scrambled towards the blade. Mastuura reached for the zanpakutou only to have it kicked away by Giallo, looking down at Matsuura with that twisted grin of his.

"I am no mere Lieutenant." Matsuura replied calmly as he spun, sweeping Giallo and diving for the zanpakotou, rolling and assuming a defensive stance. "And it seems we were mistaken in thinking you were mere Hollow. But no matter, this fight is over. Farewell Giallo." Matsuura closed the gap near instantly, delivering a devestating downward slash to Giallo's left shoulder.

"Urgh...eh..heh..kekekekeke." Giallo slowly lifted his head to look at Matsuura, his left arm holding onto the zanpakutou. Matsuura looked agast.

"Farewell indeed, shinigami." Giallo whispered, placing his right hand against Matsuura's chest, a blast of blue fire ripped through and burst out behind Matsuura. Matsuura let go of his Zanpakutou stumbling back a bit, looking down at the hole in his chest in surprise before looking back up at Giallo.

"W-what..." He managed to gasp before falling backwards.

"Keke..urgh..." Giallo held the wound on his shoulder. "He hit hard, but he never stood a chance... now to go help Grigio kill that captain... then maybe we'll be promoted." He rushed off back in the direction of Igarashi and Grigio.

"Kuh! Dammit!" Grigio swore as he struggled to catch his breath. The roles of the battle dramatically reversing in the last few minutes. It was now Igarashi who kept pressing on the offensive, with Griggio forced to defend against the increasingly unrelenting slashes from the 9th division Captain. Despite his sudden increase in aggression however, Igarashi was surprised that he had not been able to significantly wound his opponent again. He was not nearly fighting with all he had. But he wasn't playing around like he was doing at first. Any typical hollow by now would have fallen many attacks earlier.


"You seem tired." Igarashi told his opponent in a calm voice. Masking his inner surprise."Perhaps you should just give up? I'm curious to know what are you exactly, and the guys from the 12th will probably have an easier time finding that out if you are still breathing."

"Ka-Kahaha!" Grigio simply laughed. Now putting his hands together, a blue aura forming around them. "Give up? you think we are nearly done Shinigami?" While he retorted, the Aura grew larger, as if a blue flame were consuming Grigio's hands. Then, with a single motion, Grigio separated his hands, the blue flame splitting into smaller blue flames as the hands stretched. "We have not even begun!"

In an instant, the blue flames began to scatter, as if they were acting on their own accord, at least three of them were moving towards Igarashi from different directions, while the others moved erratically. "Neat trick..." Igarashi mumbled, but he was sure that he would be able to dodge them easily, they were nothing but a simple dist... Igarashi's eyes shot wide open, now realizing his mistake. By paying attention at the flames, he forgot to pay attention to Griggio, who was now directly above Igarashi. Attacking with both claws, and Igarashi barely manage to block. It was close, but not enough to hit hi-*BOOM*

A bright flash of blue light burst out as one of the flames caught Igarashi, the force of the explosion sending him flying a few meters before he was able to stabilize himself in the air. The impact sting quite heavily, but it hadn't damage his clothes or his skin. Igarashi knew what this kind of pain was, it directly affected his soul power, leaving the soul particles intact. It was annoying to say the least. But one was not enough to make him worry. Several more however...

Igarashi moved first this time around, dashing towards grigio as more flames closed in on him. He kept his eyes focused on Grigio, but carefully slashed away the flames with his Zanpakutou, keeping them at bay before they could reach his body. Closing in, Igarashi once again assaulted Grigio fiercely. He had to take him down before he could summon more blue flames, or this fight would become very, very annoying. Putting even more force into his attacks, Igarashi soon managed to break His opponent's defence, grinning, Igarashi was sure he would deliver some serious damage with his next attack.

*Clang!*

"kekeke! hello Captain!" Giallo was now standing in front of him, blocking Igarashi's strike with ease. Huh??? what? what is he doing here? Caught off guard by this, Griggio leapt from behind his companion and delivered a kick to Igarashi's face. "Kahaha! I told you we were just getting started!"

The fight once again shifted. With now both Hollows synchronizing and attacking Igarashi in tandem, it was just as annoying as when they did it at first, but now he also had to look out for the homing blue flames. Igarashi gritted his teeth. He still liked a good challenge, but now he didn't like to overexert himself if he could avoid it, and even releasing his Zanpakutou now would spell trouble for the woods nearby. But the attacks from the twins kept getting stronger and more vicious, Even Grigio alone felt much stronger when attacking alongside Giallo. Who had now delivered a knee strike at Igarashi's ribs.

"Urk! This won't do..." Igarashi stepped back. "I don't want to release and stir things further around here, but what would 'Kiki chan think if she found out that I lost a fight so easily..." He then clutched the tip of his Zanpakutou with his other hand, a look of discomfort evident in his face. "Boy... I guess it can't be helped..."

"Oh...oh no! Oh no no no no no!" Rin Tsubokura exclaimed as he stared at the screen before him.

"What, what what?" Hiyosu asked, annoyed as he was busy at his own terminal, typing away furiously.

"Indeed, what is it?" Akon asked calmly as he walked over. Rin frantically pointed at the screen, which was blinking at this point.

"Th-that! There's a massive influx of hollow into Karakura Town!" He exclaimed. Akon stared on in a mixture of horror and shock, Hiyosu looking over, his jaw dropping.

"That's...that's impossible!" Hiyosu stated, turning back to his terminal and typing away, only to have the same warning appear on his screen.

"This...can't be....I- I need to inform the Captain immediately!" Akon spun and rushed out of the observation room. He sped down the halls of the Shinigami Research and Development Institute, pushing past various surprised Shinigami before bursting into Junshirou Tenkawa's room.

"S-sir! The Hollows! There's a huge amount pouring into Karakura Town!"

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It had been a peaceful, if somewhat slow, sunny day thus far. It was because of this that when the sun suddenly seemingly disappeared Kyouraku tilted the cap on his head and opened his eyes to look up at the sky.

"Oh my...it seems today won't be as tranquil as I had hoped.." Shinsui Kyouraku sighed as he watched a Garganta open and spill forth hundreds of hollow. He got up, stretching before hopping off the roof and stepping inside Urahara's shop.

"Kisuke! Are you in here?" He called out tentatively. He walked around, picking up various objects in his search for Kisuke Urahara.

"Ohh Kisuke...where could you be?"

"Ah... Kyouraku-sensei. Whatever can I help you with?" Kisuke asked him from behind, fanning himself. Kyouraku turned around, expressing mild surprise.

"Ah, Kisuke! There you are, I was looking all over for you. Have you been outside? I think we might have to step in. I fear the Shinigami stationed here won't be able to handle it alone." Kyouraku explained, smiling softly.

Kisuke smiled back, continuing to fan himself. "Ah, yes. I see how you might be a bit concerned, but fear not. I'm sure Soul Society can handle the matter, but we can step in if they cannot if you wish."

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"This session of the Central 46 Chambers is now in order. Michishige Taiki, I have heard you bring with you a serious matter. I hope you are not wasting our time."

"Don't worry m'lord, I am not. Fellow members of the Central 46 Chambers, Soul Societies defenses grow slack. It was under General Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto that our predecessors were all killed in cold blood by the traitor Sōsuke Aizen. It was under General Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto that Soul Society was almost destroyed entirely. And it is under General Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto that our defenses and our military might, the Gotei 13 grow slack and weak. I believe it is time we, the Central 46 Chambers, as the representatives of Soul Society and its laws, order General Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto to step down as Captain-Commander of the Gotei 13 and appoint a new leader." Michishige Taiki explained, the Chambers errupting with conversation over the issue. He sat back down as order was brought by the judges.

"This is a serious charge you wish to issue Michishige Taiki, one that will take much consideration and be taken with great weight. Despite my general dislike of this idea, it does deserve consideration as can be seen by the prior...interruption. We will open the floor up for discussion of this, and we will reach a decision after a vote."

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"Going to use your shikai on them? That seems a bit rash Igarashi."

Giallo and Grigio froze in place, a look of mild annoyance but also relief spreading across Igarashi's face. There, a good distance behind them stood Matsuura Ryou, completely unharmed, a smile on his face.

"Way of destruction 73: Twin Lotus Blue Fire Crash Down." Matsuura stated, pointing at them, two massive balls of blue fire shooting forth and slamming into Giallo and Grigio, sending them sprawling on the ground.

"I am Lieutenant Matsuura Ryou of the 9th Division of the Gotei 13. It will take more than a move like the one you used to kill me, Giallo." Matsuura stated calmly as they slowly picked themselves up, smoke emanating from their bodies.

"Ungh...it seems we truely did underestimate them."

"Keke...it seems so brother."

"It doesn't matter however, our job here is complete."

"Kekeke, yes. We've acomplished what we came here for. But we will be back...to finish you off Matsuura Ryou."

"And you, Captain."

A Garganta opened up between them as they stepped inside, leaving Igarashi and Matsuura alone in the forest.

"We should most likely head back, don't you agree Captain?"

Shuichi smiled at his father, beaming at the prospect of spending the day with his seldom seen parent, "Yes, Father, that does sound good!" Shuichi's father returned the boy's smile before looking up to his mother and smiling earnestly at her as well.

"Very well", Father spoke with anticipation; he seemed to truly be looking forward to this, "We'll leave as soon as I pick up these papers!" Father knelt down to begin picking up a mess of papers that Shuichi had noticed when he'd entered, they were scattered throughout his office, and Shuichi couldn't help but wonder why. Dismissing his curiosity, Shuichi extended an offer to help, which was gratefully accepted by his father, and so the boy began to help with picking up the papers.

After they'd finished, and it didn't take very long, Father promptly placed the newly formed pile (which was about the size of Shuichi's head) on top of his desk. He paused briefly at his desk, his back was turned to Shuichi so the boy couldn’t see why, but it wasn’t hard to guess he was reading one of the papers again. After only a moment, he turned back to Shuichi and mother, and he still seemed intent on going out, as evident from his next inquiry.

“Do either of you have anywhere special you'd like to go?” Shuichi didn't have anywhere special in mind, but he did feel like having Hiyashi Chuka for dinner tonight. The sandy-haired child opened his mouth to speak, but was not given the chance to answer his father’s question. For, almost immediately after Father asked, the door to the office opened. Shuichi froze; he hoped it wasn’t anything important, he hoped that it was just a letter, maybe something his father could ignore. When the child turned and saw a man with a letter, he became even more hopeful that it was just something unimportant, Shuichi forgot in his hope that no one would enter the office of the 13th Division Captain when his family was present, unless it was important. And so it came as an even larger downfall that it would have normally been when Father crossed the room and accepted the letter, and the look of anticipation on his face melted away into the serious expression he wore most frequently. Shuichi’s hopes were shattered and the boy could not hide his disheartened feelings when Father addressed them.

“Another time.”

The Captain of the 13th Division had been excited himself at the prospect of spending the day with his family, but no irritation had shown when he saw the courier at his door, and despite the sharp pang of guilt he felt while deciding to abandon his family in favour of the hunt, he knew that he could not risk losing this chance at learning something relevant to his search. And so Takeshi handed the letter to his wife, and with an apologetic glance at mother and child, he turned to leave them in their own company once more, with nothing but a brief "Sorry", to take solace in.

Unfortunately even that plan couldn't be carried out by the quickly becoming swamped Captain, for on his way out, third seats Kiyone Kotetsu and Sentarō Kotsubaki quickly addressed him. "Captain Takeshi!" Kiyone spoke with concern easy to pick up in her voice, "One of the officers in Karakura town has reported large amounts of Hollows flowing into the city!" Sentarō nodded and looked up at his Captain, worry was evident in his voice too.

"There's no way the few Shinigami in Karakura there can handle the influx of Hollows, we need to send in reinforcements!" Takeshi looked at Sentarō quizzically, wondering why he felt the need to state the obvious.

“Than… Did you?”

“… Uhh”, they responded in unison.

Takeshi paused, the letter still hung in his mind, but with this new issue presented he couldn’t just run off, people might die, and this might be an even bigger lead than Matsuura’s letter. For all he knew, the 9th Division had already dispatched of the Hollows, and he’d only receive a report upon reaching them. No, the town was of higher priority, and he held higher hopes for it. Although his mind was made up, Takeshi couldn’t help allowing his unfortunate child to swim back into his thoughts. When I return, I’ll have to make it up to poor Shuichi somehow. Maybe dinner somewhere. And without taking the time to address another thought, he turned back to his 3rd seats.

“Prepare two groups to move into Karakura Town, I want each of you leading one of them, then head them over to the Kidou Corps and prepare to head down to Earth. I’m heading over to Research and Development to gain more information on the situation; we’re not going in there with only a single report telling us ‘there’s a lot’. Understood?” Takeshi firmly addressed his subordinates, and with a quick nod of agreement from each of them, they were off.

Giving a glance back to his family, he sighed, regret and guilt stung him, but he couldn’t do anything about when things came up. “Again, I’m sorry”, and with that Takeshi disappeared in a Shunpo.

The headquarters were bustling with activity today. Young shinigami racing left, right, up, down, some with panicked looks on their faces, most not quite watching where they were going, such as the young man who casually shoved Byouko into a wall.

"Watch where you're going!" she snapped after him.

Akon stopped in his tracks and turned back, bowing in apology, before racing off. "Forgive me, Lieutenant Kuroda! I'm on my way to see the Captain!"

Byouko had been a welcome, though unlikely, addition to the Twelfth Squad, bringing with her both some much-needed combat skill and a dark, mysterious, quiet air that was easy to mistake for authority, especially among those who didn't know Byouko very well. It made her a natural leadership figure, something quite necessary in a Division where the Captain spent most of his time at the Research Center working on his own projects. Byouko didn't mind taking care of the day-to-day activities of the Division, though. This was a good Division full of hard-working, intelligent people that normally took care of itself. Leaving Byouko plenty of time to read. Usually.

"What's the status?" she said, entering the control room. She'd learned after a century as an officer that it was important to establish command of a situation as soon as one arrived on the scene, even if it was by using a phrase as tired and cliched as 'What's the status?'

"Hollows!" said Rin, looking up from his terminal, pointing at the multitudes of radar blips. "There's a massive influx of Hollows in the Real World!"

"Can't the Shinigami assigned there take care of them? Call a few from neighboring districts if necessary."

"There's too many," Hiyosu shook his head. "We'd need a whole Division, possibly two."

Byouko sighed. "Location?"

"Karakura Town," said Rin.

"Karakura?" Byouko asked quizzically. "As in, 'Battle of Karakura?' That Karakura?"

Hiyosu nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

Byouko's forehead met her palm. The same city that Sousuke Aizen and his Arrancars had devastated centuries ago was under attack once more. What was so special about that place?

"You've informed Captain Tenkawa?"

"Akon's on his way to speak to him now, ma'am," said Rin.

Of course, she thought. He almost ran me over and then said he was going to see the Captain. Pay attention Byouko. She cast her glance at the two officers at their panels and then nodded. "Right. I'll be in my office if I'm needed." Make an exit as soon as you are no longer necessary. That was something else Byouko had learned over the years.

She stepped through the doors and down the hall to her office, inside which was the reason she'd decided to join 12th Division in the first place. The plate on the side of her door read "Division 12 Research Library," crossed out, and "Lt. Byouko Kuroda" written underneath it.

Books. Shelves upon shelves upon shelves upon shelves of mountains of books, all the collected knowledge of nearly two millennia, scribed upon paper, bound with leather or wood, and arranged, first by subject, then alphabetically, putting the Academy Library to shame. It had taken Byouko four months to arrange the shelves in an order which suited her. Most 12th Division officers of years past had not been anywhere near as compulsively ordered as Lieutenant Byouko Kuroda.

Byouko inhaled deeply as she entered her library-turned-office. The scent of old paper and parchment was heavy in the air, and it always calmed the Lieutenant's soul. It was if she could smell the very words. The odour of knowledge. She sat at her desk (fastidiously organized, with all paperwork completed, just waiting for a courier to take it to the Captain's office for his approval), picked up the book that had been left there the night before, opened it to where she left off (right at page 315, no need for a bookmark), and began to read.

"Just... for the record, I was bluffing about releasing my Shikai. You know, to keep them distracted so you could catch them off guard." Igarashi commented about that first in a serious voice, but with not a so serious smile in his face. To which Matsuura shrugged "Only because I tricked you with the same tactic in the past."

Igarashi chuckled. It was rather amusing how some things had changed so much as time passed, and how much himself had changed since. Still, that encounter with the Volpe brothers was not just something he could just dismiss in favor of reminiscing about the old days. "Anyway, You're right, it's probably best if we return to the Headquarters now. We need to try and make sense of just what exactly those guys were, and what business they had in here." Before leaving the site, Igarashi took a look around. Looking for anything that might help them in their investigation. Alas, hollows seldom left any kind of clues behind outside of carnage.

Wasting no more time, the pair once again used shunpo to get back to the Ninth Division's headquarters. With most of the squadron already back. Igarashi spoke to Matsu as they entered the building "I'm going to check the report records of the hollow sightings and anything that might be connected with it. Meanwhile, you might want to put the rest of the squadron up to speed and make some of them help out looking for anything significant in the archives. Also, make sure that the wounded from the forest are taken care off by Kurosaki's division."

Entering his office. Igarashi sighed, despite the fact that it had been a rather interesting fight, there wasn't that much info he could gather from those two hollows except that they were vastly more powerful than any common hollow encountered in several years. And they were most likely not Arrancars, as since the mere mention of them made the Volpe brothers react in disgust, perhaps that meant there was some bad blood between them in the past? and if so, why? Igarashi shook his head, instead of answers, those hollows seemed to leave only more questions behind. He had to investigate further, maybe revising recent hollow activities might reveal some clues they might have missed before.

Captain Tenkawa looked up from his mountain of paperwork at Akon, who had started panting for breath immediately after blurting out his message. He had an aloof and distant look on his face, as was familiar to everybody who knew him.

"Contact all the division heads about this with all the information we have available. I think it's worth notifying the General, after all that has gone on in Karakura. Secondly, ask the captain and lieutenant of 9th Division to come see me about the fight with these two Hollow things that they've just encountered, as it could be related." (Tenkawa's ability to sense reiatsu was all but unrivalled amongst the captains of the Gotei 13.) "Inform Captain Takeshi, who will be arriving very shortly, that I will be ready to see him shortly. Oh, and knock next time. Got all that?"

As Akon left, the 12th Division captain went back to his paperwork, reading and signing automatically while letting his mind wander. Obviously, this was Bad News. This had the potential to be Bad News with a capital Bad. He had no real doubts about the fact that the various division heads would be able to resolve this particular situation amongst themselves, however many Hollows there were, but it felt particularly important. Like it was a prelude to something. It was immediately obvious that he would have several things to investigate and to follow up on.

Letting his mind wander further, he reached under his desk and retrieved his zanpakutou. "It might be a good idea to keep this with me from now on," he announced to the empty room.

He let his mind drift back to the paperwork. More research as to zanpakutou releases, by the looks of it... he hoped he wouldn't have to volunteer again. He already had the record among the captains of the Gotei 13 for the most number of people who had seen his bankai and lived, due to previous research obligations. (When anybody brought the subject up, he maintained that all those who had seen it who weren't research assistants were also no longer alive. It was something he prided himself on.) Still, it had helped enormously. Tenkawa was the single living person with the most knowledge about how these things actually worked, and this would probably help a lot against any new unknowns that he would have to face.

And there would very shortly be a lot of those kicking around, he mused.

She couldn’t feel anymore.

The walls were grey, same as the floors, same as the ceilings, same as her robes. Everyday, all day, all she saw was grey. Colors remained in her memory, but each day a little more brightness seeped out. The sky was pale, the sun was dim, and Matsu’s eyes were washed-out.

Behind her, all there was was smoothness. There were no edges, there were no cracks. There never had been and she knew there would not be any now. They say that the definition of insanity was trying the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Perhaps Rumiko was insane to try.

She used her back to try and find chips in the wall. Her arms were kept straight at her sides, her fingers bound and unmoving. She didn’t walk and she didn’t lie down. All day she would spend sitting, legs spread out in front as her back leaned against the wall behind her for support. It was like leaning on nothing, on air. No support. She couldn’t even feel her fingers bound any longer, she simply knew that they were.

Rumiko was numb. She could feel no pain which meant she could feel no pleasure which meant she could feel nothing at all. She could think, but she could not take pleasure in her thoughts. She could see, but all she saw was grey. She could hear, but all she heard was faraway chatter, nonsense in her ears. She could smell and she could taste, but everything was bitter. There was no reason anymore.

She moved her head slightly and thought she saw something sparkle out of the corner of her eye. She sat upright immediately, trying to glimpse the object that had just glittered. Without realizing, she uttered the first sound she had made in months, maybe years. “K…”

But it was only the black bars that had glistened in the light. They cast lined shadows on her and her bindings. She hadn’t noticed them in while. She hadn’t cared to look anywhere other than straight ahead. She was, for the first time in a long time, disappointed.

Shuichi tried not to look too disappointed to watch his father being taken away from him. Once his father agreed to spend the day with him and his mother, he couldn't help but be excited and immensely happy for the opportunity to spend some quality time with both his parents. With that opportunity dashed away as quickly as he gained it, Shuichi felt disappointed. It wasn't the first time, though. Lt. Takeshi knew that her son would recover once they return home.

"Well, well." The Lieutenant began, trying to not make her husband the bad guy in her son's mind. "I had to finish patrolling the area anyways. Perhaps we'll catch him tomorrow or later tonight."

Lt. Takeshi was a little disappointed as well, but was better in hiding that than her son. She held her hand out to Shuichi and smiled lightly to the dear child. "We mustn't be in the way now. I'll treat you to something sweet outside, okay?"

"Yes, mother.." The sandy haired boy took his mother's hand with a light grip and was escorted out of the building. Shuichi was old enough not to hold his mother's hand. It's been years since he grew out of that phase. Somehow, the cool hand he held soothed the crushed hope he felt. He felt grateful that he was close to at least one of his parents.

Once they were outside, the former Kasahara gently let go of her son's hand and continued on with her patrol route. Shuichi was close next to her, looking left and right, trying to spot any lingering fiends. Lt. Takeshi smiled broadly at her son's efforts and patted him lightly on the head. Unlike the boy, Lt. Takeshi didn't need to search with her eyes. Gathering reitsu and keeping track of countless thousands of shinigami and spirits in Seireitei is simple enough for a Leuitenent of the 2nd Division.

Igarashi scratched his hair in annoyance. Even after half an hour of constantly consulting the most relevant reports from hollow activity and several categories of the known hollows. There wasn't really much info that could help shed any more light into the origin or purpose of those two hollows. No sightings of anything similar had been seen before despite the increase of the more common kind of hollows. Those twins did definitely have many characteristics that made Igarashi sure that they were indeed hollows, and not something else. They still had those white masks most hollows had, and the trademark hole in the chest. However, they were far smarter and smaller than the usual hollow...

The Ninth Division Captain was feeling frustrated, he couldn0t find any connection with the Arrancar either. Not only they are supposed to be extinct now, the Volpe brothers didn't had any of the trademarks of an Arrancars except for powers such as the bala and cero, though cero was known to be used by non Arrancars, so maybe it meant nothing. They didn't have shattered masks, they didn't wear any kind of distinct clothing or robes, and they didn't use a blade either. They relied almost entirely on the natural weapons of their bodies and a special high level energy... Igarashi sighed, this was pointless. If the latest reports wouldn't help, it was unlikely that the older ones would, and he didn't feel like reading trough reports all day knowing it would be most likely futile.

He then perceived some movement in one of the small windows of the office. Turning around, Igarashi noticed a hell butterfly fluttering around the window. He smiled, whatever the message was, it would hopefully give him something more purposeful to do than just stand around idle like this. Opening the window, Igarashi touched the small butterfly with the tip of his index finger, it's message instantly delivered into his mind. "Heh, I should have figured he would have noticed sooner than later."

Taking his Zanpakutou from the desk, Igarashi walked out of his office. That was one of the reasons why that room wasn't really decorated with anything, the Captain was never inside for too long unless he was sleeping. As he walked across the headquarters, he scanned for any signs of his lieutenant. He knew it was preferable to inform him about where he was leaving, but he wasn't that worried in finding him either. He knew Matsuura was capable enough to handle the rest of the investigation while he was gone. Besides, Igarashi didn't expect his trip to the twelfth division take too long. He was just going to pass information after all.

Chiken watched the dots appear and move, them more, different dot appear. He thoroughly enjoyed watching it as a small voice in his head told him about the spell and how it worked. The voice was what helped Chiken to learn the spells and cast them so easily, it did a lot of the thinking for him and thus allowed Chiken to advance at learning kidou so quickly while henever had to really sit down and study them. The voice was, of course, his zanpatukou, Myounahanashi.

Chiken turned from the spell when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Some messenger girl simply handed him a letter and stood there, waiting for him. Chiken stared at it for a few seconds before taking it. He didn't know what to do with it at first, but then he remembered the paperwork he was doing earlier and decided that he was supposed to sign this too. Chiken didn't look at the letter at all until after he signed it, and it was only a glance. Still, that glance picked out the name Kisuke Urahara and Chiken's mind was filled with memories of the man and what connected him to Chiken. Chiken tried to read more of what he just signed, but the messenger quickly took it away, not wanting Chiken to end up drawing on the letter like he had with the last one. She quickly went away and Chiken was stuck staring at her retreating figure, wishing he could see the rest of the letter now.

Silently, Chiken shook his head of the memories that came up with Urahara's name and turned back to Rikiki and her spell, and it was very different now. While there were four dots before (two very odd dots and two Chiken could tell were friends), now there were a lot of dots Chiken heard Myounahanashi say were other shinigamis. Chiken continued to watch the dots, but with less interest than before because he still couldn't help but think of the memories that came up.